These Bonds Between Us
by BeckyAnderson
Summary: Maria Anne Brennan doesn't look like she raised the Indoraptor from egg to the eleven foot tall man eating machine it is today. She just doesn't, she's soft and squishy and he's a bloodthirsty maniac. Or is he?
1. Job of a Lifetime

**This has been in my head for the past WEEK. Bear with me please.**

Maria Anne was more than likely at the prime of her life at this very moment. Well, technically that was a lie. She was at her prime years ago when Jurassic World had taken her in to help train the raptors. She never really had too much interaction with them, but she did watch them with Barry when Owen did his training. She was at her best in life during those years, truly. And then, of course, the indominus had gotten out and her dream job was over. She was lucky that she had the day off that day and had decided to spend it in the parks plaza, she was one of the first brought into the safe zone.

Maria hadn't seen Owen since, but she kept in contact with Barry. The two of them often got lunch together to talk about their lives now. He was getting married soon, had a kid on the way. He was working with a zoo, mainly taking care of the large carnivores. Maria was still single and living in a one bedroom apartment where she worked with an aquarium studying alligators. She wasn't living her best life now, she was living half of it.

Which is why, after three months after the park closed for good, she was suddenly excited to get a call from Lockwood, or rather Eli Mills. She vaguely remembered the mention of the Lockwoods when she had first applied at Jurassic World. He was one of the founders for the original park, he'd help make the first dinosaur. So needless to say, she were over the moon with the possibilities that had opened up for her.

She was so excited that she showed up an hour early for her interview at the Lockwood estates, her hair pinned up and her best dress suit on. She thought she looked fairly good, the suit was from one of the best plus size designers that she had found yet, and it hugged her curves in the best way. Nothing suggestive, but it didn't make her look like a potato either.

"Ms. Brennan," the maid said as she opened the door, surprise written all over her face. "You're here early."

Maria smiled hesitantly. "Yeah, I was already up in my hotel room and figured that I might as well get here early," she said as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

The maid smiled and stepped aside. "Mr. Mills appreciates those who arrive early than those who arrive late," she assured the younger woman. "Please, come in."

Maria smiled gratefully as she stepped in, her eyes roaming the mass of paintings on the walls. She stopped halfway in the room, her hands clasped together in her front as she stood. She glanced at the maid as she walked by her.

"You can go into the diorama room," she said as she gestured to the room to Maria's right. "I'll go summon Mr. Mills, and he can meet you in there."

Maria smiled and nodded, making her way over before stopping. "Uh, ma'am?" The maid stopped and turned. "I was just wondering if you happened to know what the job I'm applying for is? He was pretty vague in the call."

The maid shook her head regretfully. "No, I'm afraid I do not," she said before turning and going back up the stairs.

Maria nodded as she continued on her way into the room, stopping dead in her tracks at the sight of the large triceratops skull mounted in the very middle of the room. Her eyes, wide with a childlike awe, tracked the rest of the room. Dinosaur exhibits stood behind glass cases on the walls, and smaller skeletons littered the sides. Hope swelled inside her at the sight, was she finally going to be working with dinosaurs again?

"Well, if it isn't the infamous Maria Anne Brennan!" A man's voice cut into her train of thought, causing her to turn as he entered the room behind her. He approached her with a smile on his face and shook her hand. "Eli Mills," he introduced.

"Maria," she said. "But, of course, you knew that," she joked weakly but Eli found it funny as he laughed.

"I'm glad you came here," he said sincerely as he began to lead her to the elevator at the end of the room. "You are just what we need here."

"And what am I needed for?" Maria asked as she watched him key in a code into the elevator before it opened up. The two of them walked in, and turned to face the doors as they closed.

"Well, I have a feeling you're going to accept," Eli said after a few seconds of thought. "I've hired the best geneticists the world has to offer, and they've designed a new breed of dinosaurs. A new era."

Maria nodded as she thought this over. "Maybe Owen or Barry would have been a better choice," she said softly.

"No, you know both the velociraptor and the tyrannosaur," Eli said shaking his head. "You helped out in both pens, you know the species like the back of your hand."

Maria nodded, eyes widening when the elevator doors re-opened to reveal a sterile lab. She was led off of the elevator and onto a catwalk, taking strides to the lab at the far end. She could see several geneticists look up and smile as she walked by before going back to their work.

"Ah, Dr. Wu!" Eli suddenly exclaimed, his words halting an older asian man at the far end. The man turned and waited as they drew near before shaking Mills hand and Maria's. "This is my lead candidate for the indoraptor."

Dr. Wu smiled at her. "Ah, I remember you from Jurassic World," he said as he let her hand go.

"I remember you too," she said with a smile. "So I see you're working here now."

He nodded before looking at Mills. "Did you explain it to her?"

"Partly. I was waiting till you were here to explain it in a further detail," Mills admitted. "You know all of the specifics."

Dr. Wu nodded and lead Maria further into the lab. "You remember the Indominus Rex, correct?"

"Of course, I watched all the videos that were released after the park closed," Maria answered.

"This is a more refined version of the indominus," Wu said. "We scaled back on the dinosaurs used. Where the Indominus had velociraptor, tyrannosaur, carnotarus, giganotosaurus, and a rugops just to name a few." Maria looked at him with slight shock. They used that much in the indominus? No wonder she went crazy. "Well, the indoraptor is only made up of tyrannosaur and velociraptor."

"Which is why you wanted me," Maria realized as she looked up at Mills.

"Indeed."

Dr. Wu stopped them in front of a large egg. "This is the indoraptor," he said. "He has another week or two before hatching. And when he does, we need his handler to be there. The imprintation is important, you, if you accept, will be there with him twenty four seven, every day for the next few years as we train him."

"And where would I be staying?" She had a feeling that her one bedroom apartment was going to be put on lease soon.

"We have a living quarters downstairs," Mills said now. "Its closed off, completely private," he added. "We want the trainer to be as close to the indoraptor as possible. We want the bond to be present always."

Maria nodded and looked back to the egg. "The pay?"

"A thousand per day to start off. If the indoraptor becomes as dangerous as we're anticipating, then we'll give you a raise accordingly," Mills said.

That was way more than what Jurassic World had given her. "I'll take the job," she said.

Mills and Dr. Wu smiled in relief. "I'm glad," Eli said. "I'll arrange to help the move, it'd be good to have you settled before this little guy comes into the world."

Maria nodded. That made sense. "Can I see the living quarters first? I want to see how much needs to go into storage."

Mills nodded. "Of course, follow me," he said as he lead her down the spiral staircase. Off to the left was a long and wide hallway with a cage at the very end. About halfway on the right was a door. Eli pulled out a key and unlocked it, opening it up for her to go in and investigate.

The rooms were fairly large considering, far larger than her apartment now. She walked from the living area to the kitchen, and from the kitchen to the bedroom. "What's with the door?" She asked as she eyed the steel door in the left wall of the bedroom.

"To leads to the cage where the indoraptor will eventually be kept," Eli said. "It's important that you're close to him as much as possible in the first few months."

"Am I able to leave? Like shopping or meeting up with friends?"

"Yes, but I will ask you wait till he's a few months old, and not for very long,' Eli said as he walked with her back out. "We estimate the first three to four months he needs to be with his caretaker constantly. After that, he should me able to function without you for an hour or two."

Maria nodded. "Alright, so I just give my shopping list to someone else then?"

"We'll even pay for your groceries," Eli offered.

She shook her head. "Oh no, I can pay," she assured him. "Do I need to sign anything?"

"Yes, I have the paperwork up in the lab,' Mills said as they walked back up the staircase. "Once you sign, you can't get out of this," he warned. "You can't talk to anyone about the Indoraptor, or tell them who you work for.'

"This is secret?"

"We're cloning a dinosaur hybrid underneath a mansion," he pointed out. "The indoraptor is designed for combat, he'll be used by the military."

"That's what they said about the raptors and the indominus," Maria pointed out. "What makes you so confident about this one?"

"If you'll recall, the raptors were excellent on the field until they communicated with the indominus," Mills countered. "And the indominus was a mistake, too much in her to make her functional. The indoraptor is different, he'll have someone to teach him. Someone to bond to."

Maria looked back to the long hallway and nodded. If they could pull it off, they could potentially make a successful hybrid. "I see," she said softly as she looked back at Mills. "And you think you'll get it right this time?"

"Between you and me? No, this current indoraptor is more than likely a prototype," Eli whispered to her. "He's going to work out the kinks before we make the final product. But I still want to treat him like he's the final product regardless, hence why you're here."

"And what happens to him if he is a prototype?"

That faltered Eli. "Well, I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it," he mused as he lead her into a small office and walked behind the desk. He pulled out several papers and slid them over to here with a pen. "These are your employment papers, your insurance wavers, and your agreement to discretion."

Maria nodded as she bent over and read them over, signing on the X's. After several moments of reading and signing, she stood and handed them to Eli. "I guess that means I call you boss," she said with a smile.

Eli returned it. "I guess you do," he said as he took them and placed them in a file cabinet. "I'll escort you back out," he said as he lead her back out of the office. "I'll give you a few days to get your things in order, call when you're ready to move. I'll send a team out with a moving truck, and we'll get you settled in."

"Thank you for all of this," she said softly as they entered the elevator. "You have no idea what this means to me."

"I think I do," Eli said as he glanced at her. "I watched all of Owen's videos regarding the raptors, and he mentioned that you were a key element in unlocking the raptors trust. You helped him figure out the kinks in his training."

She looked away as she thought about that. Owen was a good friend to her, he was always there having her back or just hanging out most nights. There was a time when she fantasized about being with him, but that was before she realized that she just really liked their friendship. And he said that she was the key to the raptors? It made her heart fuzzy. "I just pointed out a few things," she said.

"Well, those few things worked," Mills said as they stepped out of the elevator. "It's unlocking a new era, a new world. And you, you are our leading member."

Maria looked at him and smiled, she liked that. She looked ahead as they walked through the diorama room and into the foyer. She turned as they stopped at the door and shook his hand again. "I'll call in a few days, maybe less," she promised. "The hardest part is dropping my lease on the apartment," she explained.

"I understand, I'll have a team ready any time of the day," Eli promised as he clasped her hand warmly in his. "I'll see you soon," he said with a voice like honey before opening the door and watching her as she walked to her car.

She waved goodbye as she drove off down the long stretch of road, a grin on her face as she realized she was truly living her best life now. All she ever wanted, since she was a little girl, was to see one in the flesh. Sure her best friend who had actually _seen_ them herself said that it was overrated and not as glamorous as others made it seem. But Kelly Malcolm was a drama queen just like her dad. And of course after her brother got off of Isla Sorna back in 2001, she was sure to stay far, _far_ away from the pteranodons.

After the park fell, they had tried to tell her that this was inevitable. That it was a miracle it took this long for something to happen. But you didn't see it like that. You saw it as your dream coming crashing down. But now? She smiled as she drove. Now this was a job of a lifetime.

 **I just wanna say, this story is probably going to take my attention for a little bit. For those who have read my previous Jurassic Park fics, I just wanna say that 1) it's not abandoned. I'm just tired of working on it right now. and 2) these are not connected.**

 **Please, though, let me know what you think! I'm trying a different approach when writing, so I hope it flows good. :)**

 **((I edited this because stupid autocorrect messed up some words in the first half.))**


	2. The Hatching

**I'm so glad people are liking this crack idea I had :D**

By the end of the week, Maria had successfully both quit her job and left her apartment. Her landlord was understanding, though a bit upset that his last good tenant was leaving him. He agreed to cut her lease short, and gave her a few days to clear out. It only took her two to get out, Eli was true to his word, and had sent out a team and a moving truck to help her. Her boss, however, was less understanding. He was pretty pissed that she was leaving, even if the new job paid far more than her previous position did. He tried to get her to stay until he found someone to replace her, but she knew that trick. Others had stayed in the past and they were _still_ here.

Her parents were worried when she told them about the new job. She knew they didn't like her picking dangerous jobs, the raptors had nearly landed them in the grave. But they finally calmed down after she promised to video call them every other night, and to visit when she could.

Barry, Kelly and Billy, however, weren't so easily calmed. Barry demanded that the two of them got together every other week when she was able, he claimed it was to be sure she was still doing okay. Kelly insisted on nightly talks, but Maria talked her down to weekly, with every three days at the minimum. And Billy, she had to talk her big brother out of coming down for a surprise visit to her job. He then demanded weekly visits at a cafe as well, preferably with Barry there so he could have backup.

By the end of the week she was settled into her apartment, everything she owned was placed accordingly and she was pleased to find that nothing had to go into storage. She spent most of her days in front of the computer eating ramen as she went over Owen's videos. She knew most of them by heart, but it was good to refresh since she would now be making her own documents.

At the beginning of the next week, Mills had brought in several loads of fresh meat to freeze and prepare. Maria placed several chunks in her meat freezer to keep them at hand, and practiced cutting them up into little bite sized chunks. She kept those in the freezer as well in a little container.

She was just starting to feel confident in her new job, when the knocking came on her door. She was in her bedroom, figuring out how to form a "nest" in her bed. At the rapid, urgent sounding bangs, her head snapped up. She sped off and opened the door to see a lab technician standing there looking out of breath.

"The egg!" He panted before she could talk. "Its moving!"

Maria paled as she grabbed her keys and the emergency blanket, shut the door behind her firmly, and ran up after the man. As she rounded the stairs, she was greeted with Dr. Wu standing by the egg with Mills at his side. They both looked up at her as she came closer, a serious, yet slightly nervous, look on their faces.

Maria ignored them as she went to her knees in front of the egg and watched as it twitched. "How long?"

"It just started," Henry said. "Shouldn't be long now until he starts breaking the shell." Maria nodded, she remembered when Delta broke out of her shell. It had taken the baby a good thirty minutes before her egg tooth broke the surface. Maria had to be restrained before she could bust the shell for the young raptor. "I got security just in case you try the same stunt," he added as he followed her train of thought.

She glanced behind her, sure enough, there was security. "I'll behave, for now," she said as she turned back to the shaking egg. The rocking was getting more frequent, with few breaks in between. This hatching would be more like Blue's, quick and easy. She just hoped that he wouldn't be at risk to disease like Blue had been.

When the egg eventually began rocking harder, faster, Maria looked up at Wu. "You need to clear out. If he sees _anyone_ else, the bond won't stick. It happened with Foxtrot before she died, she saw Barry and didn't bond with Owen," she said to him softly.

Wu, who had been there, nodded as he remembered and gave the orders for everyone to leave. He knew the dangers of an infant dinosaur to imprint on the wrong person, he'd been there for countless births. He ushered everyone out, and once the door clicked, leaving her alone in the large room with the egg. She watched it intently, brown eyes tracking each rock, each jolt. Her fingers itched, but she kept herself still as she let the indoraptor force his way out.

The egg suddenly stilled, and her heart dropped. Did he run out of oxygen? Is he dying in there? Panic swelled up deep inside, she had to help him! Her hands splayed out as she drew herself closer, trying to listen for any signs of life. Faintly, she heard soft chirps from deep within before a soft crack was heard. Maria pulled back and looked in amazement at the sight of the first cracks in the egg. The chirping was coming louder now as some more cracks appeared, and she could see shiney black scales move in the openings of the egg.

Her hands stayed splayed on the table as the crack in front of her began pushing out, small, squeaky snarls erupting as the indoraptor forced his way out. She tilted her head and caught sight of a orange-red eye as the infant glanced out to see what the world looked like. Maria gave him a soft smile and gentle words of encouragement when he spotted her. The indoraptor chirped in surprise before he continued pushing the egg apart, little clawed hands coming out of the cracks to anchor him as he pushed on.

And then, finally, the egg fell from his face, revealing a small coal black face chirping up at her. His red eyes stared into her brown as the two looked at each other full on. The black slits of his pupils dilated, almost like a cats. His head cocked to the side as he regarded her, a small chirp and croon escaping as he crawled, or rather fell, out of his shell. His tail flopped over his head as he straightened himself out.

She didn't know if she could touch him, but he was so small, and so cute, that she just couldn't help it. Her hands, slightly smaller than the small mass of infant dinosaur in front of her, lifted up and cupped him gently as she brushed off the egg pieces on his side. He garbbled as he came forward and gazed up at her. He had little teeth poking out along his jaw, more refined than what the indominus had. A bright yellow strip raced from the top of his neck to halfway down his tail, her left thumb traced it gently as her right hand came up for him to smell.

His little nostrils flittered open and close as he sniffed before his muzzle nuzzled her fingers. Maria let out a soft chuckle as she rubbed her fingertips against the skin under his jaw. The indoraptor let out a rapsy caw as he made to climb her arm, her hands quickly coming up to keep him steady as she leaned off of the hatching table. She glanced behind her and saw the staff watching in awe. Mills had a wide smile on his face before looking over to Wu, who shook his head at him. She knew what Eli had asked, he wanted to come in but both her and Wu knew that it was still too early for anyone else to enter the indoraptor's view.

Maria let out soft coos as the indoraptor climbed onto her chest, her hands coming up to support his rear. She looked down at him, whispering sweet nothings to him as he explored her. She gently caressed him as he squawked in her face before sniffing her nose, a gentle nip at the tip before he "roared" in her face. Really it was just a squeaky toy being squeezed, there was no "oomph" in it.

Maria regarded him a moment before letting out a low "growl" at him, chuckling when he let out an excited chirp. Apparently he enjoyed her little noises. His little front paws landed on her cheeks as he looked at her and chirped again. "How you doing little guy?" She asked softly. "You enjoying being out?"

His head cocked at her words before shaking and climbing back down into her hands that were still cupped. He let out a yawn as he settled down and curled up. Maria smiled softly as she stood and grabbed the emergency blanket and gently placed it over him before trying to wrap him up in it. Every bump he took, a little growl emitting whenever she moved him a bit too much. But soon, she was holding a swaddled baby indoraptor. She turned around and faced the staff behind the glass.

Wu finally opened the door and walked in with Mills right behind him, the doctor coming over and walking over to her. He stood over her shoulder as he looked over the sleeping hybrid in her arms. "I think that was one of the most successful imprints I've ever seen," he said softly as he looked at his tablet before looking back. "I'd take him back into your room now, so that he wakes up in a safe environment," he suggested.

Maria nodded as she looked down at the sleeping dinosaur. "Yeah, I'll do that," she said softly as she looked up at the rest of them. "I might need help with my door, he's sprawled onto my arms," she added as she looked at Mills.

"I'll do it," he said immediately as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he lead her out of the room. "You did amazing," he said softly as he lead her down the stairs, his hand at the small of her back to keep her steady as she descended down the spiral steps. "This is working better than I ever dreamed," he said as he helped out off of the steps.

Maria smiled up at him as she stepped onto the solid ground. He walked with her to the door and helped her unlock it. "Sleep well, we'll let you get acquainted with him. We should be able to start training him in a few months. You just work on that bond for now."

Maria nodded as she walked in. "I will," she promised as she bid him farewell and shut the door, making a few adjustments to free her hand as she locked the door. She faced the empty housing and took a deep breath before looking down at the sleeping baby in her arms. Finally, she walked to her bedroom and gently placed him on her bed. She piled up the blankets around him to tuck him into a little nest.

Quietly, she walked off into the kitchen and grabbed one of the meat containers and a bowl of tap water before coming back into the room. She placed both items on her drawer and sat gently on the bed as she looked down at him. His little eyes popped open after a moment, his little claws stretching out and digging into the blankets around him. His little arms pulling back leaving small gashes in the soft material in front of him.

"Oh my," Maria said softly as she watched the small baby take notice of her. "You're a little ripper, ain't you?"

The indoraptor let out a pleased chirp as he purred at her. "You like that?" She asked gently. "Ripper?" She scratched under his chin as he purred louder. "That'll be your name then," she said with finality. "Ripper."

Ripper looked pleased as he looked at her before climbing out of the nest and onto her chest. The night black hybrid circled once on her side before laying down and letting out a caw. She knew that noise, it was the noise Blue made whenever she found her nesting place. Apparently he found her much more comfortable.

She felt his stomach growl more than she heard it, the soft vibration on her exposed skin tickled. She let out a chuckle as she gently lifted him up despite his growls of protest and placed him back in the "nest" as she stood and walked over to her dresser. She grabbed the container of meat and the water and came back over. "Now, you need to eat and drink," she said sternly as he looked up at her.

Ripper perked up at the smell of the raw meat and stood on his hind legs to get a better look. She lowered the bowl and held out a chunk for him to sniff. His nostrils fluttered before his tiny, needle like teeth dug in. Ripper's head, and body, shook from side to side as he fought to tear off a piece. He almost fell backwards when the meat chunk gave way, his little body hunched over as he gnawed on the piece.

"Maybe I should cut them smaller," Maria mused as she watched the determined dinosaur eat his fill. "You're gonna end up choking."

Ripper merely grunted as he swallowed his meat. His little tongue washed his teeth and the scales around his mouth before giving a raspy cry. Maria didn't need a translation for that as she grabbed the water bowl and placed it in front of him. She watched as he sniffed it before shoving his entire face into the water. She was fairly sure that wasn't how you drank water, but she also remembered Charlie doing the same thing when she was younger.

A pang of sadness filled her at the thought. She tried not to dwell on the raptors, it hurt too much. They were her babies just as much as they were Owen's and Barry's. She had helped raise them from hatching all the way to adulthood. And Charlie? Charlie was her sweetheart, as much as a velociraptor could be. She broke down in tears when Barry told her that Charlie was dead, blown up in the confusion.

Ripper suddenly lifted his head and regarded her. She mentally cursed herself, she knew better than to show weakness like this. Velociraptors weren't known sympathizers, Blue was the only exception. And tyrannosaurs were even less tolerant, Rexy being the example. But Ripper didn't look like he was going to attack her, instead he merely chirped and placed a hand on her arm.

Maria blinked at him. That was odd, she thought as the little head bumped against her. She gently lifted him and cradled him to her chest, his little red eyes looking up at her. And to her shock, she saw trust in them.

"You're pretty self aware for a baby," she murmured as she stood and placed the meat and water on the side table by her bed. Gently, she lowered herself onto the bed. She piled the blankets around her to help cushion Ripper as she settled.

Ripper climbed up to settle at the crook of her neck, and cawed in her ear as he turner several times before laying down with his head tucked under her chin. Maria smiled and placed her hand over his exposed body to keep him secure. Her eyes fluttered closed as soft purring filled the empty room.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

The morning came with a crash and a cry, like a literal crash and cry. Maria's eyes shot opened as she sat up, her eyes scanning for the source. She glanced down at the floor and gasped when she saw Ripper sprawled on the floor screaming his head off. She quickly got up and grabbed him, bringing him close to her as she walked into the kitchen to inspect him.

"Oh, oh baby," she cooed as he buried his head in her chest. She placed him onto the table and sat down in front of him. He didn't look like he was seriously hurt, but babies of all species tended to over exaggerate. "You took quite a fall, didn't you?" She asked softly as she gently ran her hand over his back.

Ripper let out another cry, his body flushed to the table. He looked at her and cried again. "Oh, baby boy," Maria said softly as she picked him up and cradled him. He seemed to be soothed by her presence a little bit, but he was still whimpering and crying every now and then. She briefly toyed with singing to him, it worked with human babies. But her raptors didn't like being sung to, aside from Charlie. But Ripper seemed different.

" _Come stop your crying, it'll be alright,_ " Maria softly sang, her voice wavering from disuse. She hadn't sung in years. But Ripper had stopped whimpering as he looked back up at her. " _Just take my hand, and hold it tight_ ," she offered her index finger and smiled when his little hands grasped it. " _I will protect you, from all around you. I will be here, don't you cry,_ " she brought her head down as she pressed a kiss to his snout, chuckling when he let out a coo.

"Are you alright, my little ripper?" Maria asked him as he settled into her arms, his cries and whimpers long forgotten. Ripper let out a soft rumble. "Are you hungry?" At the mention of food, he perked up. "Alright, let's get you some food," she smiled as she took him back into her bedroom and placed him by the meat and water. She sat on the bed as she regarded him, watching him easily tear into the room temperature meat. He was a strong baby, stronger than what hers had been. Maybe that was the tyrannosaurs side of him, their offspring tended to be more hardy. She'd witness Golf, a raptor that barely made it to her first month, fall off of a lunchbox and broke her leg.

She pulled out her phone and brought up her text messages, wincing at the unread texts that Billy and Kelly had left her. She'd get to those later, right now she had to update Wu on the morning mishap. She didn't want to risk anything, it wasn't a short fall from her bed to the floor, especially for a newborn like Ripper.

Wu's response was immediate, he wanted to get him looked at as soon as possible just in case. She sent back an update saying he was eating, and that she'd bring him up and out when he was done. He thought that was best and that was that.

With a sigh, she put her phone away and looked back at Ripper as he shoved his face into the water again. She shook her head with a smile, she really hoped he wouldn't outgrow that. Maria let out a laugh when he swung his head out of the water with a raspy gasp. His mouth was opened comically as he gulped in several breaths of air before dunking back in.

She watched him fondly as he pulled back from the water and attempted to wash his own face off. His entire head was dripping, the little tiny feathers on the back of this head was pinned back against his neck. She knew, without a doubt now, that her time with Ripper was going to be something special.

 **I had to do the You'll be in My Heart song, alright? It's cheesy but I** ** _needed_** **it.**

 **But, as always, please let me know what you think! If you have any trivia, or ideas or even headcanons, LET ME KNOW! I can't find much on the indoraptor aside from him as an adult and what not. I'm curious to know if anyone has any headcanons for an infant indoraptor.**


	3. Her Vow

**Special thanks to Darth Cody for suggesting the echolocation and** **camouflage** **idea! I'm running with that shit. And for the guest with the angsty headcannon of Ripper being abused by the guards, not gonna lie, that made me cry.**

 _ **Five years ago**_

" _Charlie, come on out," Maria called out as she searched high and low in the hatchery room. Today the paddock was finished so their four little raptors were going to be transferring. They had gotten Blue and Echo easily, Delta was a little bit tricky but after dangling a piece of jerky she ran right out. But Charlie, well, Charlie was a little escape artist. She didn't like seeing her newfound sisters getting snatched up, and Maria knew that._

" _Charlie, sweet baby," Maria cooed as she crawled onto the floor. She was glad that Owen and the others had already left, she'd hate for them to witness this. But Charlie wasn't anywhere to be seen, at least from under the furniture. As Maria sat up, she felt a solid weight land on her shoulders, a raspy hiss in her ear._

 _Maria smiled as she gently grabbed the foot tall raptor and cradled her in her arms as she stood. "Are you playing a game?" Maria asked Charlie as she walked towards the container that Owen had left for her._

 _Charlie cawed as if confirming Maria's suspicions before wriggling in her arms as she tried to set her into the container. "Now, now, none of that," Maria scolded when Charlie hissed. "Do you miss your sisters?" Charlie stopped and looked up at her. "I'm taking you to them, Char. Just be patient, alright?"_

 _Charlie seemed to relax just enough for Maria to place her into the cat container, locking the entrance. The raptor hissed as she moved around, trying to figure out an exit. Maria knew she had to work quick, she doubted she'd get Charlie a second time. She quickly lifted the carrier and made her way out of the room, wincing everytime a thud came from the container as Charlie threw herself against it._

" _What happened to my sweet baby?" Maria asked sternly as she walked through the main hall, stepping over the broken pieces of dinosaur bones. She pushed the doors open and smiled at the sight of a car left behind for her. She didn't have to walk with a pissy velociraptor._

 _Maira placed Charlie in the passenger's seat and quickly made her way into the drivers. She turned on the car and looked at Charlie, who looked back with wide golden eyes. Maria felt her heart melt as she held her finger out to the gate. She knew Owen had said that it was dangerous, that even though they were small they still packed a bite. Charlie sniffed at the digit before giving a small nip to it, her little teeth piercing the flesh easily._

" _Oh, you little gremlin," Maria said without any bite as she withdrew her finger. It didn't hurt, but there was blood and she could already hear Barry freaking out about it. She glanced at Charlie as she drove, a fond smile on her face. "You're a good girl, Charlie," she said softly. "Don't ever change."_

* * *

"And you're sure he's going to be okay," Maria pressed as Wu looked over Ripper. The indoraptor kept growling at every poke and prod, but Maria kept her hand on his back in a sign of comfort. She didn't like the doctors either, but she also knew that this was necessary after his little tumble this morning. Her fingernails tapped against the metal table's surface as she waited for Wu to answer. Why was he taking so long?

"I think he'll be okay," Wu finally said as he let Ripper's leg go. "The fall more than likely shocked him than anything else."

"But Golf-"

"Golf was a velociraptor, and a runt at that," Wu was quick to point out. "Velociraptors are easily prone to injury when they're younger. That's why we placed tyrannosaur DNA in the Indoraptor's genome. Their young is sturdier."

Maria nodded as she looked Ripper over and picked him up, wrapping the blanket around him as he snuggled into her chest. "I guess I have to start remembering that he's not fully raptor," she said softly.

"You were good with the raptors," Wu said in understanding. "If we hadn't have had Owen, I would have made the recommendation for you to be the alpha of that pack." Maria smiled softly as her eyes trailed to Ripper as he tucked his head into the crook of her arm. She glanced back up at Wu when he sighed. "He's going to be okay, but I do want to take blood soon."

"Why?" She asked in slight alarm.

"Well, I'm curious to know what all he's inherited from the indominus," Wu explained easily. "She could camouflage, I'd be curious to know if he can as well."

"He hasn't," Maria said with a shake of her head.

"Not _yet_."

Maira shook her head again. "No, it's way too early to even think about taking blood," she said as she held Ripper closer to her. "He's only two days old, Henry!"

"I know that, I wasn't talking about right now," he said evenly. "In a month, and I want updates on anything he does that's abnormal for raptors and tyrannosaurs."

She nodded as she felt her nerves calm down. She didn't like the thought of anyone drawing blood from Ripper. "I will," she promised as she took a step backwards. "I'm gonna go back to my… room. Put him down for a nap, maybe some food." She said as she nodded a farewell to the doctor.

"I'd get started on your documents," Wu suggested as he turned back to his work. "You're already making progress."

Maria nodded and turned to leave the lab. As she walked down the stairs, she was greeted with Mills running in. "Hey, Eli."

"I heard he fell," he gasped as he skidded to a halt in front of her. He saw the blanket in her arms and his eyes went wide. "Oh, god. Did he die?"

"What?" She drew her brows together before glancing down and rolling her eyes. "No, he's just hiding," she said as she drew the blanket far enough away for Mills to see in. Ripper took one look at him and growled. Maria let the blanket fall back over her baby and looked back up at him. "Wu said he's fine."

"Oh thank god," Eli said as he patted his forehead with a handkerchief. "I was scared we'd have to start over."

Maria frowned at him. He was only concerned with restarting the program? She felt disgust deep in her gut as she glanced away from him. Even Claire had more concern for the dinosaurs when they were sick or hurt. "Nope, he's safe and sound," she said as she shifted on her feet.

Eli smiled in relief. "That's good. You go ahead and take him back, I'm going to go talk to Wu." He patted her shoulders as he pushed past her and up the stairs.

Maria didn't wait, she was already halfway down the long, dark hall. She balanced Ripper in one arm as she unlocked her room and entered, sighing as she placed Ripper on the couch as she shut the door and locked it. She glanced to her left at the computer where she'd be documenting at. It was only twelve in the afternoon, she could wait till later when Ripper was down for the night.

She glanced back to the hybrid when he started squeaking, and chuckled when she saw he was trying to escape the blanket. She remembered doing this to Charlie back in the hatchery, the little raptor loved being swaddled up until Owen came in, and then it was an act of betrayal just to be in the soft pink material. She crouched in front of the couch as his six in long tail sprung free, his little foot extending as he fought hard to escape. It wasn't even like he was wrapped in it either, it was only draped over him but he seemed to think his life was in danger at this very moment in time. Finally he was free as he realized that backing up was a valid solution. He smacked his jaws as he looked around and chirped when he saw her.

Maria lifted her hand for Ripper to sniff, the tip of his nose bumped against the scar on her finger. Her heart sank a bit at the sight of it, Charlie had given that to her all those years ago. Ripper sensed her sadness and rubbed his head against her arm, his little claws digging in as he climbed her arm and settled on her shoulders. He rasped into her ear, his little teeth tickling the skin.

"I'm okay," Maria assured him softly as she stood, her hands raised to keep him steady. "I'm alright," she added with a sigh as she placed him onto the kitchen table and pulled out another container of meat and placed it on the counter. She gave Ripper a quick kiss as she pulled out a ramen cup and peeled it open. "Give me a second, baby," she said as she poured water into the cup and stuck it in the microwave for three minutes. She reached up in the cupboards and grabbed a little dish. Pouring some water into it, and grabbing the meat, she walked back to the table and placed it in front of Ripper.

She sat down in front of him, watching as he began to tear into the meat. His little body shook with the effort as he tore into the meat. He let out a bunch of little growls as he tipped his head back and scarfed it down. He licked his jaws as he looked at her, a smile on his face. Maria blinked as she processed this development. He smiled.

 _He smiled._

Maria jumped when the microwave dinged, and quickly stood to grab her hot cup of noodles. She grabbed a fork and came back to the table where Ripper stood drinking. She twirled some noodles around her fork as she regarded Ripper. She should probably look at the videos of the indominus again, to see what she was in store for. She still had the codes for Jurassic World to access the security videos that weren't released to the public. She'd watch everything else, except for the videos regarding her raptors.

"You're gonna be full of surprises, ain't ya?" Maria asked Ripper as he went back to his meat. "You can smile, I wonder what else you can do." Ripper didn't offer any comments as he bit off another piece of meat.

* * *

Maria ran a hand over her face as she regarded the red blinking light in front of her. She was tired, it had taken Ripper over an hour to settle down on her bed. Anytime she went to leave he'd wake up and start screaming again. Eventually, she had to swaddle him and take him with her into the living room so she could begin her video reports.

"Maria Anne, day two," she finally said. "The indoraptor has been out of the shell for two full days now, and he's already proven to be an interesting case. We had a mishap with him falling off of the bed, which thanks to the tyrannosaurus in him, he's okay." She briefly smiled down at Ripper.

"He's pretty… self aware for such a young dinosaur. Hybrid or not, he shouldn't be this aware of everything around him. He's displayed classic velociraptor behaviors, and very little Tyrannosaurus." Now she hesitated. "I'm noticing some… human behaviors in him. Placing a hand on the arm for comfort, _smiling_. I don't really know what this means, and to be honest, I'm scared to investigate it further." She didn't want to know what she'd find.

"I'm going through all the files Jurassic World had on the indominus, hoping for any clues for what I can expect with Ri- the Indoraptor." Personal feelings had to put aside for this. This was strictly for research and observation, not to talk about her new baby. "Hopefully there won't be any surprises."

She nodded to herself before cutting the feed, leaning back in her chair as she looked at the screen. Ripper was curled up on her lap, a nice solid weight. If she pretended hard enough, she could almost picture Charlie. Tears welled up in her eyes, when was the last time she gave her raptors a proper cry? It had been months since they left this world, and months since she lost them. She had buried herself in work after the first week of tears, she didn't think she ever really allowed herself to really mourn.

The tears fell onto her cheeks at the realization, she couldn't give Ripper everything she had if she was still in mourning over her dead babies. So she ducked her head, her arms bracing the side of Ripper, and let herself cry.

She cried for Delta, who was a beautiful girl. She was smarter than the rest of the group, thanks to the significant amount of avian DNA used. She was Barry's girl, only ever calmed by his loving touch. She still remembered the time when Delta was still small, and had climbed up Barry's leg just to bury herself in his jacket. She had gloated the rest of the day because the other girls couldn't climb good yet.

She cried for Echo, the raptor who didn't know how to pick her fights. Her jaw was permanently crooked, and she had earned the name Elvis by the rest of the handlers. She was always in the back, and that was why she loved both Barry and Maria. She was never forgotten by them, they always had a special treat for her. Maria remembered a time where Echo would run to them everytime they came into the hatchery room, little chirp echoing in the room. She was always awake at the ungodly hours of the morning, and she'd be there when Maria came to check on them, wide awake and willing to listen to her handlers woes.

She cried for Charlie, her youngest and best girl. The raptor who bounced and hopped before she ran, the raptor who loved to climb onto her everyday back when they were kept in the hatchery. The green raptor who cooed every time she saw her, who once insisted that she be near Maria when she was sick. Maria had spent three days, spending each night as well, with the baby raptor as she fought the cold. Owen was put out at first, but he admitted to her after the ordeal that he was glad it was her in there, it had made him less worried about the baby.

And Maria cried for Blue, her last living baby all alone. The eldest raptor who held tremendous respect for her handlers and her pack. The raptor who relied on her family for everything, who fought hard to be Owen's beta, who loved her sisters with everything she had. The raptor who showed her kind side as a baby, and hid it once she realized her responsibility for her pack. She cried for the raptor who lost her family, alpha, and her home.

She sniffled as she wiped her eyes, the world around her blurry as she placed her glasses on the table in front of her. She heard a concerned squawk, and looked down at the red-orange eyes looking back up at her. Ripper let out a chirp as he balanced on her legs and reached up to touch her face. Maria wrapped her arms around him and hoisted him up closer, burying her face into his side as she let herself finish her tears. She doubted this would be the last time she'd break down over her girls, but she knew that it wouldn't be as loud and ugly as this episode was.

She lifted her head and wiped her eyes again before looking down at Ripper. She ran a hand over his head and down his back gently as she controlled herself. She looked at the small, helpless baby, and fought back the feeling that she'd have to watch him die too. Her brows furrowed, she couldn't let that happen.

"I promise you," she said softly, but determined as she looked him in the eyes, "I will _never_ let anyone, or anything, hurt you. I will keep you safe from now until the end of time. I won't fail you," she finished her vow. She didn't think he understood her, but she needed to say it. She wouldn't abandon him like she did her girls when they needed her. She was here for Ripper, and she wouldn't go anywhere.

And God save the poor bastard who tried to tear her away from him.

 **I'm gonna include a lot of flashbacks in the upcoming chapters, some featuring the raptors, others featuring her past. Each flashback will be important for the chapter, even in small ways like showing how she got the scar on her finger!**

 **But, as always, let me know what you think! What did you like? What did you want to see in the upcoming chapters? I've been skimming the Jurassic World wiki, and pulling headcanons off of Tumblr, so I'm open for anything and everything :D**


	4. The Lysine Problem

**Another thanks to Darth Cody, I tweaked the lysites idea just a tad to make it more original to me. I haven't read or seen those fics that featured them, but I didn't want to just blatantly take the idea.**

 ** _Five years ago_**

" _Ms. Brennan, do you remember the dinosaurs on the first park?" Wu asked as he checked over Charlie, the poor raptor attempting to suck up the snot bubble coming out of her nose._

" _Well, not first hand," Maria said as she placed a hand on Charlie's head to soothe her._

" _They were lysine deficient," Wu explained as he took a step back from Charlie. "Each and every dinosaur either got fed lysine rich foods, or recieved a lysine rich shot. It cut down a lot of our illnesses, the only dinosaurs that ever got sick were the ones that got into things that they shouldn't have."_

 _Maria looked up at him before looking back at Charlie. "And what does that have to do with Charlie?"_

" _Well, on Site B, and even on here, the dinosaurs thrived despite the lysine shots and food being stopped. Turns out, they received their lysine from the plants and from the animals that ate the plants," Wu said, unfazed by Maria's exasperated look. "We learned to just place the lysine gene in our new dinosaurs, and allow them to get what they needed the old fashioned way, hunting."_

 _Wu nodded at Charlie now. "Charlie, here, hasn't been getting her lysine. So her immune system is low, which is why she's now sick."_

" _We've fed her the recommended amount," Maria said shaking her head._

" _But is she actually eating it?" Wu demanded. "Or is it being taken from her? Or is she being picky?" He shook his his head as he regarded her with sympathetic eyes. "I know the three of you love your girls, but you have to really observe them. We need to notice things before it reaches this point."_

 _Maria bit her cheek as she regarded Charlie. "She doesn't like cow," she said softly. "We feed them beef, and I've seen her eat. I guess I just assumed she was forcing the food down." God, her baby could die because she didn't change her food diet._

" _Good, that's good. We can easily fix that," Wu said as he went to the side table and grabbed some needles. "I'll take some samples to examine, and we can set up an lysine drip to get her back on her feet. If she doesn't like beef we can switch to goat or pig," he said as he came back to the two of them. "Hold her steady for me," he ordered as he uncapped the needle tip._

 _Maria did as she was told, and warily looked at the needle as it was braced against the skin under Charlie's shoulder. "Why are you taking blood?"_

" _Two reasons," Wu explained. "The first is to see how much lysine she's lost, it'll help when we set up the drip." He withdrew the first shot and handed it to an assistant before uncapping the second needle and placing it on the other side of Charlie._

" _And the second reason?" Maria prompted as she cooed softly at the whining raptor._

" _I take DNA samples from each and every dinosaur on this island," Wu said with a shrug. "It helps if they die, we can always reclone them instead of going through the labors of finding another DNA strand in the amber mines."_

 _Maria gaped at him. "But you said she can easily be fixed," she said as she looked down at Charlie._

" _She can," Wu confirmed. "I'm just taking it now instead of later with her sisters." He handed the sample to the same assistant and looked at her. "I did it back in the first park as well. Of course, those samples are lost, when the power had shut down we lost all of the DNA strands and embryos. We had to start from scratch when Jurassic World first started."_

 _Maria nodded. "How long does the shelf life last?" She asked as she picked Charlie up and held her close._

" _Depends, most of the time ten years is the limit," Wu said as he took off his gloves and discarded them. "Large dinosaurs tend to last a little longer than the smaller ones, the gaps in the smaller ones tend to break down after six years so we have to keep taking samples if we don't clone the ones we have."_

 _Maria nodded as she shifted on her feet. "I guess I should take her to the sick room," she said as Charlie let out a whimper. "When are you going to set up the drip?"_

" _In an hour," Wu answered as he grabbed new gloves. "We'll swing by soon."_

* * *

She didn't know how it had happened, but somehow she lost sight of a dinosaur the size of a cocker spaniel. One second she had him cornered in the closet, the next he had played a Houdini and disappeared. She didn't even know how it happened, she literally blinked and he was gone. So here she was, on her hands and knees as she attempted to find her wayward dinosaur.

"Ripper!" She sang as she crawled. "Come out, baby," she cooed as she rounded the couch. He wasn't there.

She sat up on her knees and groaned as she pushed her hair back. Wu needed to take the blood today, he was going to be out of town for the next two weeks. Ripper wasn't this hard to catch normally, and she was getting frustrated at the whole situation. She growled lowly as she narrowed her eyes in determination. She had to go about this raptor style.

Her nails tapped against the hardwood floors of the living room as she began to crawl again. Stopping every now and then to let out a few taps. Blue used to this method when she was calling the other girls to her. She rounded into the kitchen and paused when she heard echoing taps, he was playing a game with her.

Maria bit back the smile as she tapped again, this time bending her head to the side as she attempted to locate where the taps were coming from. They were off to her left, so she turned and crawled that way stopping at the threshold of the living room and the kitchen. She tapped again, this time it was too her right. So she crawled into her bedroom, her eyes roaming up above in case he decided to pull a Charlie.

She tapped, and nearly jumped in joy when the tapping echoed right in front of her. She looked under the bed, nothing. She looked on the other side of her dresser, nothing. She stood and was just about to give up when she nearly tripped over an invisible mass in the middle of the floor. "What the hell?"

The brown floorboards rippled to reveal a black and yellow dinosaur grinning up at her. Maria held a hand over her heart as she looked down at him. He had turned invisible, he could turn invisible. "You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days," she chastised as she lifted him in her arms, grunting at his weight. He wasn't the small baby that she could easily lift any longer, now he weighed a good hundred pounds.

She carried him into the living room and placed him on the couch before grabbing the industrial leash that Mills had designed for Ripper. "We have to go upstairs, real quick, okay?" She said gently as she tugged on the lead which prompted Ripper to jump down. "And if you're especially good, I'll make you a meat pie."

Ripper chirped at that and immediately pressed up against her leg. "Not right _now_ ," she said with a laugh as she wrapped the lead around her wrist before unlocking the door. She opened it and stepped out into the dimly lit hallway, a gentle tug causing Ripper to follow suit. He came out and pressed low to the ground as he looked around. He wasn't used to being out like this, he always insisted on her carrying him. But Maria wasn't as strong as he seemed to think.

It took some coaxing for him to start moving again, his tail between his legs as he took in the new sights. Maria glanced at the spiral staircase, it would be a whole lot faster to just use it. But Ripper was barely comfortable with walking on solid ground, much less climbing metal. Her only other option was to go about it with the elevator that stood at the end of the floor several feet past the staircase.

It was slow going, and none of the guards were willing to help her as she tugged and pleaded with Ripper. The few that tried promptly shied away when Ripper snapped his jaws at him. It was a clear message, only Maria could get this close. Which she secretly thought was bullshit, but what else could she do.

When she finally got him onto the elevator, she felt like dancing with joy, she was fairly sure she saw some guards clap as the doors slid close. Ripper looked up at her as she pressed the second floor button, she gave him a soft smile when he whined. "Oh, you big baby," she cooed. The elevator gave a jolt before it began to move, which then sent Ripper into a state of panic.

The Indoraptor immediately launched himself up her body, his arms wrapping around her neck as she stumbled backwards into the wall, her arms coming up to cup his bottom. She grunted with the effort, and adjusted her grip to keep his steady. She could feel his heart going a mile a minute as he shook in fear. She felt awful for making him come on the elevator, but she doubted he would have been less freaked out by the staircase. Maybe Wu could do a housecall next time.

The elevator doors opened and she staggered out, Ripper letting out a caw as he saw the ground floor so far away. She could hear the guards downstairs laughing at her predicament, the dicks.

"You're okay, we're okay," Maria soothed the young hybrid as she slowly made her way across the catwalk to the labs. She peeked out from the mass of black scales, and sighed at the sight of two laughing guards looking back at her. "Thanks for the help," she said to them sarcastically as she drew closer.

"I'm not losing my hand," one of the guards said with a shrug as he opened the door for her.

"He looks like he'd kill us just for looking," the other said.

She rolled her eyes, the cowards. "Wu, where's the table?"

"Take a few steps forward, maybe three," Wu said as he gathered his utensils.

Maria took the steps and bumped against the cold metal table. Gently, she began to lower herself so that Ripper could climb onto it. After a few tentative pats, he slowly transferred himself onto the table. Maria let her arms hang limply at her sides as she stayed crouched, her whole body aching. Ripper let out a whine as he sniffed her.

"You should have taken the stairs," Wu commented without sympathy as he drew near, causing Ripper to let out a hiss. Maria stood, her arms reaching up to touch Ripper's shoulder.

"Next time," she groaned as her arms protested, "next time, you're taking a house call."

Wu gave her a rare smile as he poked around Ripper's shoulder to find the vein. "I'll consider it," he said as he prepped the needle. "Keep a good grip on him, I'd hate to lose my hand."

Maria did as she was instructed, her noodle arms wrapping around Ripper to keep his steady as Wu drew the needle closer. She whispered little words of encouragement to the nervous dinosaur as the needle pierced his skin. Wu quickly took the sample and withdrew the needle. "You did so good, baby," she cooed as she scrubbed the front of his chest.

Wu went over to the table at the side and squirted the blood into sample tubes. She watched as he grabbed one and took it over to the microscopes. He hadn't dismissed her yet, and she was curious as to what secrets Ripper's blood held. "He turned invisible this morning," she said to him after a moment.

Wu nodded, not taking his eyes off of the sample below. "I knew he would," he said. Her eyes narrowed at the confidence he held, of course he knew this would happen. He sat back up and turned to face her. "I have good news," he declared as he crossed his arms.

"I'm glad, but you look like it's not good news," she said warily.

"His lysine is good, I highly doubt he'd get sick even once in his life," Wu said simply. His arms were still crossed, and his eyes looked… troubled?

"But?" Maria prompted.

" _But_ , they are too high," he said with a sigh. "Essentially, he's reached a stage that I've only hypothesized until now. When lysine builds up, it can bunch together in the cells. Any damage caused to the cell gets repaired immediately."

"I'm not a geneticist," Maria said shaking her head. "Dumb it down, doc."

Wu rolled his eyes. "It means if I were to cut him at this very moment, the cut would heal in a second," he explained. "It's an accelerated healing factor."

"So he's basically Wolverine," Maria said with furrowed brows as she looked over at Ripper.

"Yeah, basically," Wu sighed heavily. "Which is good for when he is in combat, he won't be taken down by bullets," he added as an afterthought.

"You didn't plan on this," Maria said as she looked at the geneticist.

"No, I was trying to build up his lysine, I must have built it up too much," Wu said. "But it's no matter, this works for us," he said. "Even if he were to lay off of lysine for a month, he'd still be in good health."

Maria let that sink in as she looked at the ground, finally she nodded and looked up at Wu. "That's good then," she said. "If he's hard to kill, that makes me feel comforted for when he gets older."

Wu nodded. "Yes, it is a good thing," he confirmed. "I'll let Mills know about this, I'll let you drag him back down to your place." He paused to give her a playful smile. "Good luck."

"' _Good luck_ ', thanks," she mocked as she hoisted Ripper off of the table and onto the ground. "House call next time," she told the doctor with a point. "I'm not getting jumped in an elevator again."

Wu merely shook his head as he walked over to his desk.

* * *

Maria regarded the blinking light. Ripper had been down for an hour, his little snores echoing in the quiet quarters. When she had left him, he was sprawled out onto her bed in an almost starfish postistion. It was cute, and she'd let him stay that way for now. But he was in for a rude awakening when she decided to go to bed.

"Maria Anne, day thirty six," she said in introduction. "The indoraptor has grown in an almost tyrannosaurus fashion. He's now standing at eighteen inches tall, and his length is almost reaching four feet. His last weigh in put him at a hundred and five pounds." She rolled her shoulders and winced. "He still thinks he's small, and light enough to be carried. We've found an alarming amount of lysine in his blood. I'm not even going to try to explain what that means scientifically, I'm not a genius. But basically, it means he's Wolverine without the six pack."

"He's shown the first signs of the indominus, this morning he had turned invisible to avoid being taken to our geneticist and veterinarian, Dr. Wu. His feathers are prominent, just like with the indominus, and his hands have displayed a distinct thumb." Maria bit her lip as she mulled that bit over. "I've read all of the files for the indominus, nowhere does it state that she had human DNA. However, there is no denying that the thumb is there. Ripper holds emotions that have never been documented in either a velociraptor or a tyrannosaurus. He has humor, concern, sadness, he expresses disgust and excitement. And while those all can be argued, none have ever been seen with this much… expressiveness."

Maria shook her head. "It's concerning to say the least." She looked at the camera and pressed her lips together. "I'm probably reading too much into this," she allowed finally. "I hear hybrid and suddenly think there's human experimentation going on. Wu is a professional, and he documents everything. If there was human, it'd be in the files." She nodded and cut the camera off, saving the file under the folder labeled INDO.

She pushed her chair back and popped her back before standing, a yawn escaping as she walked over to the bedroom door. She paused at the entrance and smiled at the sight of Ripper curled around in the blankets. His head popped up sleepily as she drew near, a soft chirp emitting from him as she climbed into bed with him. His body slid over to hers, extreme heat coming off of his body. She didn't even need to sleep with a blanket anymore, he provided more than enough heat for the both of them.

She wrapped an arm around his body, smiling when he snuggled closer. She loved her little oddball.


	5. Training

**For Mermaid's Magic, who had asked if Ripper would get a mothers complex with Maria, yes~**

 ** _Five years ago_**

" _They keep trying to attack me every time I use the clicker," Owen huffed as he threw himself into the chair across from Maria and Barry. He looked at them with a pout, his hair messed up from the scuffle with the four raptors._

" _I told you, you have to let them get familiar with the object first," Maria said with no sympathy for the taller man as she sipped her water. "You just spring it on them, they won't trust you."_

" _She's right," Barry nodded._

" _Yes, I'm aware of that," Owen said sarcastically as he sat upright. "Any other ideas?"_

" _Positive reinforcement," Maria shrugged._

" _They're not dogs, Maria," Owen said as if she didn't already know that._

" _And they're not exactly military friendly," she pointed out. "If we want them to cooperate with us, they need incentive."_

 _Barry nodded. "Give them rats," he suggested. "We only feed them pig meat, I'm sure rat would be a delicacy."_

 _Owen regarded the both of them before nodding. "Yeah, yeah. I'll bring that up to Hoskins."_

 ** _Three years ago_**

 _Maria stood next to Barry and Hoskins as they watched Owen go through the exercises with the girls. She smiled fondly at the four raptors as they followed Owen as he walked across the catwalk. Echo stood in the back by Charlie, and kept growling at her sister every time a tail was thrown in her face._

" _God, they're impressive," Hoskins said with a whistle. "And to think I was going to replace him."_

 _Maria barely glanced at the man. She didn't like him, he was loud and invasive, like right now as he pressed up against her side to get a better look. She threw a plea to Barry, who looked at her apologetically. She was on her own with this man. "Yeah, he's truly an alpha," she said as she took a slight step backwards._

 _She watched as Owen threw the rats down to the girls, grinning when Charlie jumped a bit too high to catch her prize, her tail falling right onto Echo's face. Said raptor decided she had had enough and launched herself at her sister with a cry of fury. Maria and Barry leaned over the rails as they watched the two raptors roll around as the other two stepped aside. Blue looked from them to Owen before shrieking at them._

 _The two separated, panting as they regarded each other. Echo hissed at her sister, who merely squawked before standing and running over to the side of the paddock where Maria was. "I see you, baby," Maria cooed as Charlie seemed to explain her woes. "Echo is just being mean today, isn't she?"_

 _She grinned and let out a laugh when Charlie nodded before looking over her shoulder for her sister. She glanced at Owen who sighed and called Charlie over for another rat._

" _Truly magnificent," Hoskins said beside her. "I can't wait to get them in the fields."_

" _It's your funeral if you do," she said as she took a step back and made her way to the rails._

* * *

"You think he's at a point where he can begin conditioning?" Mills asked her as they regarded Ripper. He was inside the cage, something that Eli had insisted since he was now as large as a mastiff. He was nearing three feet in height, and was already five feet long. He was too big to carry, and he finally understood that when he made Maria fall over on the couch last time he jumped onto her. If Wu or anyone needed to see him, they had to go to the cage where Maria stood inside to keep him docile enough.

Maria regarded Ripper as he gnawed on a bone she had given him. "I think so," she said. "Not real training, but I can get him familiar with the… gun?" She didn't know why they'd need Ripper if they already had a gun pointed on their victim, it defeated his purpose. But maybe conditioning him to only attack what they've pinpoint was a good idea. It'd cut down on some unneeded deaths.

Eli nodded. "Good, I can have someone bring it over," he said. "And, since you asked last time we talked," he took off his glasses to clean as he talked, his blue eyes looking up at her, "since he's already four months old, you can go out for an hour or so. Enough time to meet up with some friends and family," he added.

She smiled. "Thank you," she said sincerely. She hadn't seen the outside world in four months, she was starting to get cooped up in the small living quarters. "In that case, I'm going to be gone for about two hours tomorrow then." Ripper looked up at her, an uneasy look on his face.

"You remember the rules?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes. If they ask where I work and what I do, I simply tell them I'm working on a military project." She wasn't stupid, she knew that if she so much as let a single itty-bitty detail slip then she'd be fired and sued. More importantly, Ripper would be taken away from her.

Eli winked and pointed at her. "That's my girl, I knew I could always count on you," he said as he reached between the bars and squeezed her shoulders. He jumped when Ripper suddenly stood and snapped his jaws at him, his hand slowly letting go and retreating. "He's a little spitfire," he said as he took a step back. "He doesn't attempt anything with you?"

Maria shrugged. "I mean, he saw a roach the other day and jumped me, other than that, no." Ripper acted like he'd rather die than to lay one claw on her, this was evident when he immediately freaked out after she fell onto the couch the day before. "I'll let you know if that seems to change," she added.

Eli nodded and bid her farewell, a careful eye glanced at Ripper as he turned. She watched him leave, his back straight and his gate fast. He was afraid of Ripper, and as she looked down at the new set of teeth growing, it was for good reason.

"Come on, Rip," she cooed as she unbolted the metal door and opened it for him to enter their home. "Let's go watch some tv."

* * *

The gun arrived an hour after, and the two found themselves back in the cage. Maria didn't want to ruin any of her stuff, and Eli wanted to supervise the process. He stood on the other side with Dr. Wu, the two of them watching intently as she sat criss cross on the floor with Ripper in front of her and the gun in between them. They'd been sitting like this for a good thirty minutes by now, Ripper sniffing the gun and getting comfortable around it.

"Are you going to do anything else?" Mills prompted as he looked from her to the gun and back again.

Maria looked to Wu, who seemed content with burying his face into his tablet. She sighed, "not yet. I want him to be comfortable with it. He's not yet, he's still on edge," she explained. "Once I'm comfortable with his level of comfort, I'll continue," she added as she turned back to Ripper, making a soft, encouraging noise when he bumped the gun with his nose again.

"Right," Eli looked at his watch, "well, I'll be going up-upstairs, call me when you start actually training," he said as he made his hasty escape.

Maria looked at Wu, "you leaving too?"

"No," Wu shook his head. "I'm here for the science," he said.

Ripper batted at the gun with one clawed hand, jumping backwards when it shifted towards him. He looked up at Maria for help, only to see her and Wu struggling not to laugh. The hybrid let out a huff as he tried to regroup his pride, and went back to investigating the gun again.

"So, between you and me, is he a prototype?" Maria asked softly as she gazed at Ripper.

"Yes," Wu said as he looked up. "I'll know for sure when he gets older, but I can tell you that right now, he's leaning more towards prototype than the final product," he said.

She felt a deep pit in her stomach. She hated talking so impersonal about Ripper, he was her baby and she was talking as if he was just another machine. "What happens to him if he is a prototype?"

Wu was quiet a moment. "I'm not sure, I can make the recommendation to house him in a remote area," he said softly as he looked at her.

"You'd do that?" She looked up at him, almost incredulously. Wu wasn't known for being kind, yes he was always polite with her, but to go as far as to find housing for Ripper, for _her_? Unheard of, unthought of. He was always detached from his surroundings, not getting close to his coworkers.

Wu shrugged. "Like I said, I'd suggest it," he said. And there it was, the detachment.

Maria nodded and looked over at Ripper, smiling when she saw him lying next to the gun without a second thought to it. "We're ready," she announced. "Should we call Eli?"

"He probably just got back upstairs," Wu mused. "He'd be pissed."

"So, yes?"

Wu was already pulling out his phone. He gave her a quick smile as he brought it up to his ear. "Yes." It was silent a minute before he cleared his throat. "We're ready to continue," he said into the phone. He nodded once and then hung up. "He's pissed." He said to her as he put his phone up. "He had just gotten into his office."

Maria smirked as she looked back at Ripper. "Is it bad that I don't feel bad about that?"

"No, he's not really the best person," Wu admitted. "Sometimes I withhold stuff just to see him blow up later on."

"Oh, that's awful," Maria said with a giggle. She liked Wu a little more now.

The two of them waited for their boss, keeping an eye on Ripper who was silently observing Wu. "He likes to watch," Wu commented as the elevators ding sounded.

Maria nodded. "Yeah, I've noticed that too." She gave Ripper a smile when he looked at her, his red eyes warm when they focused on her. His head shot to the hallway when Mills came running into view, his chest heaving as he approached them.

"I had to run," he said apologetically as he looked at her and Wu. He straightened his tie and looked at them with a more professional air. "So we're ready?"

"Yeah," Maria said as she turned back to Ripper who was glaring at Mills. "Rip, look at me," she commanded, internally grinning when he obediently looked at her. She took a deep breath to chase away any of her nervousness. The raptors responded well to calm trainers, and the tyrannosaurus' responded to a leader in command, more often than not the matriarch of the family. Which, for both cases, you were in Ripper's eyes.

She gently grabbed the gun and held it loosely in her hands for Ripper to familiarize with it. Once he had relaxed, she pressed the trigger and aimed the red light at the ground for him to look at. He must have had some cat mixed in his DNA, because he was smacking at it with his hands almost immediately. She let the light go around the cage, a smile on her face when he chased it.

"Hit the yellow," Eli commanded.

She didn't respond, but she nodded. She aimed the light at a stuffed bear that was placed into the cage this morning, letting Ripper crouch before hitting the yellow button. There was a ringing in the air, and he roared as he dove at the bear, his sickle claws digging in as he tore the bear apart. Shaking his head, he threw the dismembered bear everywhere, one of its arms hit her in the cheek, another leg flew out into the hallway.

Eli let out a whistle as he patted his forehead. "Imagine that in the battlefield," he said. "The war would be over before it began." He gave Maria a smile. "That went beautifully," he complimented. "I think we need to work on him not chasing the light, and then we can move onto live targets."

"Live as in…"

"Rabbits, maybe pigs," he said easily. "Maybe when he gets bigger we can do cows."

"That's if he's still easy to work with," Wu corrected. "The indominus got to be too much after she turned a year old."

Eli nodded, but didn't seem to concerned as he stared at Ripper who was grooming his claws. He had a glazed over look in his eyes as the indoraptor paused and looked right back at him. Maria slowly stood, her eyes on Eli as he placed a hand on the bars. "But he's going to be different," he said softly as he looked upon Ripper.

Ripper had had enough, his teeth snapped as he stood and crouched, powerful hind legs preparing to leap at the bars. Maria quickly cleared her throat, catching Eli's attention and snapping Ripper's focus. "I think he's ready to go inside," she said as nicely as she could muster. Sometimes Eli just made her skin crawl.

"Right!" Eli said as he let go of the bars. "This was a good day," he said as he took a step back. "You have fun tomorrow with your friends, and we'll start this back up."

Maria nodded as she opened the metal door, keeping her eyes on her boss as Ripper scampered to her side, not quite going in. "I'll see you gentlemen tomorrow," she said as she inclined her head towards them and turned, ushering her little hatchling inside.

She shut the door, bolting it shut as she let out a sigh. She could never get a read on Eli, he was always either really supportive and nice, or he'd get glazed over and passive with her. Wu was easier to read, and that was saying something. She paused and looked down at Ripper, who cooed when he saw her.

"You did so good baby," she crooned as she ran a hand over his snout and rubbed it. He loved it when she did that. "You want some meat?" She asked excitedly, grinning when he let out a caw in response, his large black and gold body sprinting out of her bedroom and into the kitchen to await for her.

As she prepared his food, she couldn't help but wonder his fate. He was a prototype, everyone was saying that. It didn't matter if she trained him to be better than her girls ever were, he wasn't likely to become the final product that Eli was searching for. She placed the large chunk of meat on the floor for Ripper to rip into, a fond smile on her face. If she could retire with him, go to a secluded area and just be, that would be an ideal path. She couldn't bear the thought of losing another baby, not again.


	6. The Outside Lands

**Just a bit of a warning, there's some gore in here. I didn't get too specific, but it's still there so...**

 ** _Five years ago_**

 _The thin, yet sheila, squeaks filled the room as the three giants navigated through the swarm of raptors. Maria gingerly stepped over Golf and Hotel, their little bodies entwined as they stayed close and low to the ground. Barry was in the corner, not even trying to figure out a way through the maze of raptors._

" _How you doing, Owen?" Maria called as she looked at the two raptors stalking her._

" _I mean, it could be worse," Owen said from the middle of the floor where the majority was huddled around him. All four clutches were in the room. She didn't know who approved that, but that were on her hit list._

" _Charlie and Echo are behind you," Barry said to her in warning._

" _I know," she said as she hopped over Juliett. "I'm not so worried about that."_

" _They're small, but their claws still work," Owen said with a wince when one of the babies leapt onto his leg._

 _Grinning in victory, Maria finally reached the other side of the room where the bench was. She turned and directed the grin at Barry as she sat down. "Ah, sweet relief," she said as she stretched out her legs._

 _That was a bad idea, as both Charlie and Echo barreled forward and climbed up her bare legs, the tiny sickle claws sinking in to keep their balance. Maria hissed, but otherwise didn't move. It felt like a cat scratch. She watched as the two babies made their way up to her, little caws to let the others know that she was their perfect only._

" _Owen?" She looked up at him for help._

" _Barry, you got the camera?" Owen instead turned to their friend, who took out the camera and aimed it at her._

 _Maria, now holding both raptors in her arms, giggling as Charlie tried to bury herself in Maria's hair, gave them both a mock glare. "I'm going to remember this," she threatened as Echo cawed in her face. She could hear several clicks as she struggled with the raptors, making sure none of them fell._

" _We're so scared," Owen said with a laugh._

 _Maria finally managed to hold the girls in both arms, each cradled like a baby in her arms. Their little tails were curled up and between their legs. Their feet were curled, and their necks craned as she cooed down at them. She looked up at Barry and Owen, a smile on her face as the final click came._

* * *

The sun glinted off of her sunglasses as she strolled through the busy streets of California. She had her eyes semi-glued to her phone as she texted her brother and Barry that she was close. They had chosen a cafe to meet up in, a tradition her and Barry had taken up for the past six years. And Billy, well, he just wanted coffee and didn't care where he got it from. When she looked up, the crowds parted to reveal the cafe's sign up ahead. She pushed herself to walk just a bit faster, not enough to break her breathing but enough to where people moved aside when she came close.

Her phone buzzed, a text from Barry saying they were inside. She smiled and pulled the door to the cafe open and came in. She looked around and spotted the two waiting by the line to get coffee, she waved when they looked up and smiled at her. She walked over, laughing when Billy rushed forward and wrapped his baby sister up into a crushing hug.

"We're in public!" She chastised as he hugged her brother just as hard. She missed him.

"Oh, please," Billy scoffed as he let her go and lead her back into the line where she hugged Barry.

"How have you been?" Barry asked her as they separated, the line moving forward.

"I've been good," she said genuinely. "The job's helped me more than the previous one did with coping," she added.

Barry nodded while Billy wrapped an arm around her. "And just what is this job?" He asked as they reached the front of the line.

She held up a finger as she listed her order, a mocha frappe and a blueberry muffin, and waited for the other two to place their orders. Barry got a latte and Billy ordered a black coffee and a donut. As they progressed down the line to wait, she looked back at them. "It's all confidential, but what I can say is that I'm helping train a new line for the military."

The two men's brows pinched together as they processed that. "And you're safe," Billy pressed.

"At the moment," she replied with a shrug. Maria was fairly positive that she wouldn't ever be in harm's way when it came to Ripper. "I'll let you know if I get in over my head," she said with a smile before walking over to the pick up counter when her name was called. She stood and waited for the other two to get their orders before smiling. "Inside or outside?" She questioned.

"Outside," Barry said with a nod over to the door leading out to the outside chairs and tables. He lead the way over, holding open the door for the other two of them. They found a table that was relatively clean and sat down, each man one Maria's side.

"Kelly told me to give you this," Billy said after they've all settled. He pulled out a box with an emoji wrapping paper, a cute little bow on the top. He placed it in front of Maria, and tapped it. "Said it's for your birthday, since she's going to miss it."

Maria smiled. "Should I wait to open it?"

Billy shrugged. "She'd expect that."

"That reminds me," Barry said as he patted his pockets, finally pulling out an object wrapped in tissue paper. "From Owen," he said as he handed it to her. "They finally let him get his stuff from the island. Said that there were some things in there that he thought you'd like."

Maria swallowed at the mention of Owen. "I see," she said as she opened it. Her eyes immediately widened at the picture that looked up at her. It was her, holding two baby raptors. Echo and Charlie, she realized as she took in their markings. She had almost forgotten that day.

"He said he hoped it'd help patch things up," Barry said softly as she placed the photo to the side.

She didn't know how to respond to that as she stared at the tiny one inch sickle claw that had laid under the photo. "Is this…"

"Charlie's," Barry confirmed.

Maria swallowed thickly as she picked it up. "Tell him I said thank you," she said with an unsteady voice.

"You could call him, or visit," Barry said gently. "He lives not too far from here."

Maria shook her head. "No, it's too early, and I said some… regrettable things to him last time."

Barry nodded, like he expected that. "I'll pass it onto him," he promised.

"How have you been holding up," Billy said now cautiously. "You said you've been healing?"

She nodded. "I still break down now and then," she said. "But I think I'm at the point where I can focus on the future than the past."

"That's good," her brother said sincerely. "I know how much you loved them, hell even I shed a tear after I found out." She gave him a smile, her babies had that effect.

"Yeah, it's hard some days," she admitted softly as she looked back at the photograph. She wanted to tell them that she had Ripper, and that he helped more than she could ever wish for. But she couldn't, not now anyway. Maybe one day, when they announce the final Indoraptor.

Barry gave her a smile as he patted her arm. "I'm glad, we were worried about you, Owen and I."

Maria bit her lip as she nodded. She wanted to see Owen, but she knew ultimately that this wasn't the time to reconnect. In due time she'd be able to face him, but not now. Not so soon after the deaths of her girls. "I appreciate that," she said softly.

Her watch beeped, signalling that her hour was up. "Shit," she cursed as she stood. "I gotta go back, they don't want me gone for long," she said apologetically as the two men stood. She wrapped Barry up in a hug, squeezing tight. "Tell him I said thank you," she said softly as she withdrew.

"I will," Barry promised.

She turned to her brother, getting swept into a hug. "Tell mom and dad I'm okay," she said as she hugged him tightly. "And tell Kelly I'll call her soon," she asked as she looked up at her older brother.

"I will," Billy said with a hand over his heart. "You go back to work, call or text when you make it in," he said sternly as she withdrew.

"I shall," she promised as she smiled at them, the photo and claw in her pocket, and Kelly's gift in her hands. "I'll see you guys soon," she swore as she began to walk backwards away.

"You be good," Barry called out to her.

She grinned and waved them goodbye. When was she ever not good?

* * *

As she pulled into her parking spot in the back of the manor, she felt something off. There was an odd chill in the air, going up her spine as she got out of her car. She approached the backdoor cautiously, her eyes trained for anything amiss. She unlocked the backdoor and quickly came inside, ears listening for anything and everything.

Finally she heard it, screams. She took off towards them, running through the large cages and hitting the main floor. She looked to the left, down her hall, and gasped. Mills stood there holding a man who had his arm ripped off and blood spraying. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, calling for someone to "shoot that damned thing!". Her eyes went from him, to her door where Ripper was seen snapping at the men around him as a guard tried to keep him at bay.

" _What the hell is going on_ ," Maria asked darkly, the hall growing quiet save for Ripper's snarls. She stalked forward as she glared daggers at them all. "I leave for an hour and a half, and this happens?"

"Maria," Mills said as he held the man up. "We're sorry, we needed some samples and thought we could do it quickly.

Maria sent him a glare as she pushed the guard away from the door and held out a hand to Ripper. He took a sniff and relaxed enough to where he wasn't trying to bolt out the door. Instead, he pushed himself against her legs. "You should have waited," she hissed at Mills. "You could have hurt him-"

"He tore my fucking arm off!" The man screamed at her, his face red from pain and fury.

"Good! That'll teach you not to go into his home!" She screamed back, a hand on Ripper's neck to keep him close to her.

Mills passed the man to a guard, straightening his tie as he attempted to regain control of the situation. "Look, I'm sorry," he said apologetically. She glared at him, she didn't quite believe him.

"Don't you _ever_ do this again," she said firmly as she jutted a finger at him. "Do you realize that you could have traumatized him? He might not be able to function around large groups of people!"

Mills gulped as he took her in, she was a good eight inches shorter than him, yet she was looking down at him in this very moment. "I understand," he said finally. "I'll make sure it'll never happen again," he promised.

Maria merely sniffed as she took a step back, causing Ripper to do the same. "You call me before you do anything with him, am I clear?"

"Crystal."

With that, she nodded and ushered Ripper back into her home, shutting the door firmly and locking it. She placed her back to the door and sighed heavily as she looked at Ripper. Her couch was in shreds, her coffee table turned over. Ripper whined as he inched closer to her, wanting to be close and to be comforted.

She sat on the ground and drew him in, his chunky body curling up on her lap as he shoved his face into her neck. His feathers and tiny horns poked her skin as his head butted against her skin. Small whines escaped him as his claws digged into her shirt as he pressed himself close. She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him as she rocked back and forth.

" _For one so small, you seem so strong. My arms will hold, keep you safe and warm,_ " she sang softly as he cried, tears pricking at the edges of her eyes as she looked up at the far end of the room. " _This bond between us, can't be broken. I will be here, don't you cry._ "

They sat for hours it seemed, Ripper finally falling asleep with his head pressed into her chest. She was exhausted, angry, and worried all at the same time. She just wanted to keep him safe, she thought he'd be okay if she was gone for an hour. She just wanted an hour in the world outside. Now she was positive that she'd never leave him for even five minutes alone ever again.

She pressed a kiss to the top of his head, red lipstick shining against his night black scales. She wasn't able to stop Hoskins from releasing the raptors at Jurassic World, she wasn't able to even be there. She wasn't going to fail Ripper, not this time around.

 **Sorry for a delay! I had to rewrite the first part of the chapter because I didn't like the flashback scene.**

 **But let me know what you think!**


	7. New Developments

_**DISCLAIMER: the sign language sequence in this story is loosely based off of the story by SkullsandDuggery's story "It's not the Raptor DNA".**_

 _Four years ago_

" _How intelligent do you think they are," Maria asked Barry as the two of them watched Owen do his training. Below them, the four raptors were paying close attention to his words, and trying their best to follow his orders. She watched as Echo strayed far in the back, the scar on her newly reformed jaw vibrant._

" _Hard to say," Barry said after a moment of thought. "They know voice commands, but so do dogs."_

" _My brother said that they can communicate with each other," Maria added. "Most animals can do that."_

 _Barry nodded. "The ones from the original park could open doors," he said. "They tested the fences all the time."_

 _Maria eyed the fences below, they were reinforced steel, only able to open from one side. "It seems they've learned from last time," she commented. Below them, Blue let out a bark when the other three started to stray away from each other. The three stopped and kept their heads down low as Blue barked again. The three gave out low caws and croons as they filed back into formation, responding to their betas bark by looking back up to Owen._

" _She's communicating with them," Barry said softly._

" _She's reprimanding them," Maria corrected as she leaned forward. "She put them back into the training exercises," she said as they all looked up at their alpha. "You know, my brother made the resonating chamber, the thing they use to vocalize," she said absentmindedly._

" _Does he still have it?" Barry asked._

 _Maria shrugged. "I don't think so, last I heard about it, he'd given it to Dr. Grant."_

 _Barry nodded as they refocused on the girls below. The chirps, the snaps, and the body language was all observed. It was a rare session, normally Hoskins would be here with them. But today, today he was out of the park. It was heaven._

" _There," Maria suddenly pointed. "Blue's sickle claws," she clarified as Barry leaned over to see what she saw. They watched as Blue took the lead, her claws digging into the ground just seconds before the other three followed._

" _Silent communication," Barry realized._

" _We need to do more tests," Maria said shaking her head. "If Blue can tap her claws and get them to follow, then they can train themselves to follow specific cues."_

 _Barry nodded. "I'll call Vic," he said. "Tell him the new development. He'll set something up for us."_

 _As much as she didn't like the man, she did have to admit that he was good when it came to accommodating them with their research. He listened for the most part, and was a huge part of setting up the girls paddock. When they had concerns, he'd fix them. She knew without a doubt, he'd get them whatever they needed._

" _I wonder if they ever talk about us to each other," she mused as Owen finished up his session. "Delta probably sings tales of her love for you," she teased._

 _Barry laughed softly. "Charlie no doubt talks about you all the time," he said as he joined in on her wayward thought. "Probably calls you mom."_

" _What would they call Owen?"_

" _The Lesser Mom, possibly," Barry said snickering._

 _Maria smacked his arm as she too snickered, watching as Owen looked over at them with a frown. "That's mean," she said in defense for her friend._

" _You were very late in saying that," Barry huffed as he looked at her with a smirk. "Come on, you know they think that whenever he gets mama bear over them. He's definitely a mom to them."_

 _She nodded, refusing to give him a verbal confirmation. She watched as Owen made his way over, and ducked behind Barry who started snickering at his joke again. "You're a bad influence," she said as Owen hit their side of the catwalk._

" _Chicken," Barry teased as he turned to face their curious friend._

* * *

Maria sat on the kitchen floor looking at Ripper, their eyes locking. She was determined to test just how intelligent he was. He had stopped turning invisible in the house, only really doing it when he wanted to play. He had shown many, many times that he understood the human language, and his opposable thumbs still skeeved her out.

"Ripper, eyes on me," she said in her commanding voice. Ripper looked at her, albeit a bit confused. She generally used that tone only in the cage, never in the home. But she didn't want anyone knowing that she was doing this kind of test. "I'm going to teach you some hand gestures and new commands," she said. "Are you ready?"

Ripper chirped as he looked at her.

She held up her fist and let him sniff it before holding it up. "Watch," she said before knocking on the air like she would a door. "This means 'yes'," she informed him. She did the sign several more times. "Can you copy that?"

Ripper regarded her fist a moment and looked at her. Finally, after she knocked once more, he lifted his hand and clenched it. He brought the fist down into the air once before dropping his hand.

"Did you understand what that means?"

He knocked on the air.

Maria cracked a smile, excitement and horror spreading throughout her body. So far, the only animals who could communicate with sign language were apes. Koko the gorilla being the most famous. And now Ripper, her golden boy. "Want to learn more?"

Another air knock.

She straightened her back and raised her hand upwards. Her hand was in a loose fist as she raised it up close to her head, her fingers tucked into the palm. She pointed her index finger upwards. "That means 'I understand'." She repeated that several more times. "Can you do that?"

Ripper waited to see it once more before knocking on the air, bringing his fist up higher and flexing his equivalent of an index finger upwards. _Yes, I understand_.

She paused now, unsure as to how to continue with this. As of right now, those two phrases were more than enough to communicate. She could stop now, she already proved that he was able to learn and communicate using sign language. And yet…

"Do you want to learn more?"

A knock on the air, an excited chirp. He wanted to learn more, he wanted to communicate with her.

"Do you want to know… what to call me?" She remembered Barry's joke, years ago, that Charlie would have called her mom. A small part of her wondered if that was true, and if so, would Ripper call her the same?

Ripper chirped this time instead of using sign language, his tail raising up with a wave. She smiled at him, trying to think of how to go about it. "I'll show you a couple different words, okay? You can choose from those. Understand?"

A knock and then a finger flex upwards.

She held her hand up, like she was going to give a high five, and turned her hand to the side with the palm facing the wall. Her thumb was out facing towards herself. She moved her hand back and forth slightly, her thumb hitting her chin twice. "That means 'mom'."

Her next sign required both hands. She held them up, all of her fingers drawn in aside from her index fingers. She crossed them twice, her hands twisting. "That means 'friend'."

She repeated both signs several times, taking the time to label each one. Once she was satisfied that he knew, and understood, which was which. She gave him a smile. "What do you want to call me?"

Ripper lowered his tail as he thought over the signs and their meanings. She could practically see the gears turning in his head. Finally, he looked up at her and splayed out his hand, bringing it up to his jaw and poking his thumb's claw against his chin. _Mom._

She felt her breath catch in her throat. He wanted to call her mom, he thought of her as his mother. She smiled fondly as she looked at him. "You want to know what I call you?"

An excited fist knocked the air.

She held out her arms, like she was cradling a baby, and rocked them back and forth twice. "'Baby'," she said. "Because you are my baby boy."

Ripper lashed his tail out as he chirped, his body bending forwards as he inched closer to her. He was remarkably smart, being able to pick up a whole new language and command with very few problems.

"You want a hug?" She questioned knowingly. He always made that pose whenever he really wanted a hug, cuddle, and even belly rubs.

A hasty knock hit the air before he scrambled over to her open lap. He was heavy, well over three hundred pounds. But he still thought he was able to lay on her lap, and she didn't have to heart to stop that at this point in time. Especially after a session like this. Her arms wrapped around him as he positioned himself like a cat onto her lap. She slowly moved herself backwards until her back was to the cabinet.

* * *

The lights were bright in Wu's lab, the lights glinting through her glasses. She tried to focus on Wu's words, she was here for a reason after all. He had called her up for an update with Ripper, and for a formal apology from the incident from two days ago. Apparently he wasn't apart of that, another scientist, who has since been fired, had issued for the blood sample.

"How is he doing?" Wu asked as he walked over to his computer. He looked up at her through his glasses.

"Good, I believe," Maria said after a moment of thought. "I haven't noticed any trauma, or behavior changes. I think he was scared initially, but moved past it once he was back inside."

Wu nodded. "Good," he said sincerely. "It'd be a shame for him to become fearful of other people." She pursed her lips, she highly doubted he'd be fearful.

"He tore off a man's arm," Maria said softly. "He's nine months old, that takes a lot of force."

Wu nodded. "Yes, that is alarming. But he does have tyrannosaur DNA, and their bite force is unparalleled, save for the modern day crocodile. No doubt he used that strength in his jaws when he bit the man."

She nodded. "That reminds me, do you think I could see his genome papers?"

Wu looked at her in alarm. "Why?"

"I was just curious," she said as she immediately cursed herself for being so bold. "It's not important, forget about it."

Wu regarded her for a minute. "One day," he began slowly, "I'll let you have them. But that'll be a day when we're ready to create the final Indoraptor."

She nodded. "I understand," she said softly.

Wu sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder, something that shocked her into looking at him. He never touched people. "I mean it, one day," he said firmly. "Right now, I'm not ready to share that with anyone. Even you."

She nodded. If he wasn't ready for something, she wasn't going to push it. She respected him too much to do so. "I understand," she said more firmly. "I appreciate it."

He nodded and let her go. "Is there any updates on him?" He was moving back into his professional stance.

"Well, I got him to finally stop turning invisible all the time," she said. "Now he just does it whenever I wake up and forget to put on my glasses."

Wu cracked a smile as he placed the new information into his records. "That's good, that shows a wide range of intelligence."

Oh, he had no idea what Ripper was capable of. A part of her wanted to tell him about the sign language, just to see if he'd freak out. But she knew, deep down, that she had stumbled over something dark when she tested Ripper earlier. She had proved that he either had primate DNA, or worse, human. "Yeah, he picks things up," she said instead.

"And his training?"

"We've moved onto rabbits," she said. "I finally got him to stop chasing the light and to stand still when I move to train it."

"Good, good," Wu said nodding. "Do you think he's ready to progress?"

She was silent. "Not yet," she said finally. "He's a fast learner, but I'm… I'm scared as to what he'd do if we let him loose onto bigger prey. He'd have to be in a bigger enclosure, which means he'd have to leave. Which risks getting caught with him, or him getting loose."

"You think it'd be unwise to take him to a secondary location," Wu clarified.

"Yes," she confirmed. "Right now, he's easy to transport, but he's also not ready to take down larger prey. He's still working on rabbits and small pigs."

Wu nodded. "I'll pass that along to Mills, maybe we can set something up down here. Use the bottom floor for training, have all personel up on the catwalks to avoid becoming prey ourselves."

Maria thought that over and nodded. "It'd be easier to recage him afterwards," she added. "I can go down and lead him back in, or just stay down there the entire time."

"If you feel like you'd be safe," Wu mused. "Otherwise, we could just wait for him to return on his own. That is his home, after all." Maria nodded, she did have to admit that could work out better. Though, in the back of her mind, she knew that Ripper would wait for her regardless. "Another thing," Wu seemed a bit cautious now. "He's getting to be a year old in the upcoming months. And he'll be too big to keep in your apartment. Have you been trying to adjust him to the cage?"

Maria nodded. "Yes, sometimes I keep the door open so he can roam around it. Just the other day he was sleeping in it. But he won't let me shut the door, not unless I'm in there with him." He had nearly broke her heart when he started screaming that day, like she was abandoning him instead of trying to preserve her privacy.

Wu nodded. "I take it that you might have some suggestions."

"Correct, my good sir," Maria said, immediately regretting the choice of words as Wu merely looked at her expectantly. "Well, I think he'd be able to adjust better if we change the door, and add a window that he can poke his head into," she admitted. "He needs to see me, if he can't have direct physical contact, then he needs to be able to see me when he's in the cage. And the window, if he gets too big, I doubt you guys would just let me go into the cage willy nilly. So the window is good for when I want to love on him, or him me."

Wu nodded again. "I think we can do that," he said finally. "The door would be weaker, he'd be able to break into it."

"Yes, but he'll feel better being in the cage," Maria shrugged. "I know the door I have is good for security and privacy, but I don't want to loose any and all progress we've made on the Indoraptor."

"I agree," Wu said standing to his full height. "I'll take that to Mills as well." He stepped around the desk and walked with her back through the lab. "Between you and me," he leaned towards her, his voice lowered, "I think Mills bit off more than he can chew with this project."

"What do you mean?" Maria asked softly as well. If Wu was whispering, then that wasn't a good sign. There could be ears listening in.

"He's expecting so much, wanting so much. He's upset with the slow progression, _not_ your fault. He's upset that he's having to pay so much money, your new couch, the man's medical bills and hush money." Wu shook his head. "I think he's starting to realize just how dangerous this is. You and I both know what dinosaurs are capable of, I was in charge of the first park, I saw how smart and bloodthirsty some of those dinosaurs were. You know men and women who were on both islands, who barely escaped. Mills hasn't had anybody to knock that reality into his mind, he's still idealistic."

"It took my girls a full year to be able to learn just the simplest commands," Maria pointed out. "They catch on fast, but they weren't able to really focus and follow till later. Ripper is an odd case, he's able to really pick things up with only a few examples to guide him."

"Exactly," Wu said, pleased that she was agreeing with him. "Jurassic World wasn't built in a day. It took us years prior to ensure that the DNA structure would hold, and even then it was an issue of if the infant would survive the first few months."

"We had twelve baby raptors at the beginning, only four survived," Maria nodded. She still felt sad for those eight, they didn't have much time in the world. But she had loved them with everything she had when they were around, and she was positive that when they left the world, they left it knowing what a loving hand felt like.

"The Indoraptor surviving this long was a miracle," Wu said as they reached the front of the lab. "Even the Indominus Rex had problems in the beginning. But he's been growing big, and he's been growing strong."

"And fast," Maria said. "It's almost hard to believe that he was barely the size of a rabbit just nine months ago."

"Tyrannosaur," Wu said nodding. "Faster growth rate due to the threats posed onto infants. Velociraptors were also fast growers, but considerably slower when compared to the tyrannosaurus."

Maria nodded, that was true. Her girls did grow fast, but not nearly as fast as Ripper was. By then end of their first year, they were only at Owen's knees. It had taken them three and a half years to reach Maria's height, and five to be able to look Owen in the eye. By the rate of Ripper's growth he'd be looking her in the eyes in the next few months. And then she'd have to look up to him in the months after that.

Wu suddenly shook her hand, a genuine smile on his face. "Thank you for coming up," he said at a normal tone. "I really do enjoy the talks we have," he added. "If you have any information, or concerns about Ripper, feel free to come on up," he said before letting her hand go.

"I will," Maria promised as she gave the slightly taller man a smile. She turned and walked out of the labs, taking a left and going down the spiral staircase. She was glad that someone else was seeing the flaw in Mills character. He was still, for the majority, the same man that she met and liked all those months ago. But as Ripper grew bigger, it seemed that Mills was beginning to crack and show some true colors.

And Maria wasn't sure how she felt about that.

Walking back into her home, she was greeted by Ripper, his long tail sweeping over the coffee table and just barely avoiding knocking over the cup she had left there. He curled around her legs as she walked further in, caws and barks sounding to let her know that he was hungry.

"Yes, yes," she said as she walked into the kitchen. One of the many advantages to him being to big now was that she didn't have to cut up the meat any longer. She could just pull out the slab and let him go to town.

She walked over to the meat freezer and opened it, hip checking Ripper whenever he tried to climb in. She held it up high to tease him, laughing when he began to prepare himself for the jump. Just before she could, she dropped the meat slab onto the ground, taking a step back as he began to tear into it. He was growling as he chewed, but she knew that it wasn't towards anyone in particular. He growled just to growl it seemed.

When he began to slow down, she tapped on the floor with her nails to let him know that she wanted his attention. He was almost done eating, maybe two bites left and he tended to savor those bites in the night as a snack. He licked his jaws as he looked up at her.

"I need you to promise me something," she said softly, but sternly. "Can you do that for me?" An air knock. "Good. I need you to pretend that you don't know how to use sign language, the thing I taught you earlier this morning," she said. When he cocked his head in confusion, she sighed. "It's dangerous for you to show other people that, they won't understand. So, if you want to use it, use it only when we're alone. Okay?"

A knock and then a finger flicking up. _Yes, I understand._

"Good, you're my good boy," she cooed as she scratched under his chin, a purr emitting. She leaned back and watched him as he yawned, golden eyes drooping. He must be tired, doing absolutely nothing all day. "Go on, get some rest."

With that, Ripper stood and made his way into her room, scrambling up onto the sheets. She watched his coal black body curl up, the golden stripe shining bright in the darkness. She leaned against the door frame as she watched him nap, a fond smile on her face as worry crept in. Mills wasn't up to anything good, she couldn't prove it, but somewhere deep inside, she knew it was true.

 **I'm glad people are enjoying this story, too be honest I'm in love with it. This story is** **progressing, and I hope that I'm not aging him up too fast. By next chapter, we should start to see Ripper grow into his movie self. I can't say when we'll hit the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom arc, but it's coming so be prepared ;D**

 **But, as always, let me know what you think! Did you like the sign language idea? What signs do you want him to learn? Is there headcanons you saw that you think would fit into the story? Let me know! :)**


	8. The Precious One

**This is a filler chapter pretty much, not in Maria's POV. Warning, the flashback scene is pretty emotional (at least for me, I was choked up writing it)**

 _Six years ago_

 _Charlie yawned as she woke, her little feet stretching out as she snapped her jaws shut. She sat up, her golden eyes looking around the dim room. She could see her new sisters curled up together on in the nests a few feet away, looking warm and inviting. She warbled slightly as she cocked her head at them, she wanted to sleep with them, to be apart of their group. But she was a runt, and the last of her clutch, and she wasn't at all sure if these new raptors would just accept her so easily._

 _Echo liked her, she knew that much. The blue-green raptor would always play with the smaller raptor, chasing her around and batting the toys left in the room. She liked Echo, it was Blue she was afraid of._

 _The small raptor looked over to the door and cooed, she heard footsteps approaching, and a familiar smell wafted through the air. Vanilla, trees. Excitement filled her as she stood and jumped down from her perch, tail high in the air as ran towards the door. The door slowly opened, a booted foot coming out to keep her from escaping._

 _Charlie looked up, a raspy cry emitting as she looked into the face of her favorite human. Maria. The woman came in, shutting the door behind her as she quietly surveyed the room. Blue and the other two were slowly waking up, they didn't like the morning like Charlie did. When Maria looked down, she gave Charlie a big grin and knelt down._

" _Looks like I'm the first one here," she said as she ran a hand over Charlie's head, chuckling when the she let out a purr. "We got some cuddle time before Owen and Barry come in," she said with a wink._

 _Charlie squealed, she loved cuddle time! She got to have Maria all to herself during cuddle time, she didn't have to worry about Blue hogging the trainer all for herself during this time. Charlie followed Maria as she walked over to the bench and sat, patting her lap for the baby raptor to jump up onto. Charlie knelt down low, she was practicing her jumps more and more, and wiggled her butt. With one powerful leap, she landed onto the soft lap._

" _Oh, good girl!" Maria said as she scratched under Charlie's chin._

 _Charlie warbled again, tilting her head when Maria scratched the good spot. She rubbed her head against Maria's palm as she sat, tail poking right out and off of Maria's lap. She listened as Maria began to talk, she liked listening to her precious one. She always had such fascinating stories to tell, and she was always so calm when telling her tales. Like the raptors that used to live here on this island, and their valiant escape! That was always her favorite to hear about, about how the Big One had broken the fence on stormy night, and ate her abusers._

 _Charlie didn't know what an abuser was, but it sounded bad. She didn't want to ever face that kind of human, they sounded terrifying. But Maria, alpha and Barry weren't abusers, they were pack._

" _You know, my best friend was on an island where raptors ran free," Maria was saying. That piqued Charlie's interest. Raptors running free? That sounded like heaven! She would love to just run free, to not be caged by anything. "They were there to observe the dinosaurs there, this was about a year after the first park failed. When they were there, some bad men came and tried to take the dinosaurs off of the island," Charlie growled. Dinosaurs didn't need to be moved. "Their camp got destroyed, and then the two groups had to band together to avoid the tyrannosaurs that were after them. My friend, her dad and step-mom, all fell into the free raptors territory when they were trying to get off of the island. They were chased, and after a few moments of terror, they got out safely."_

 _Charlie settled down and looked up at her precious one, she seemed… distant. "I miss her," Maria said as she looked down at the baby raptor. "I've been trying to convince her to come visit, since I can't really leave the park."_

 _Charlie licked Maria's hand, no wonder she sounded so sad. Charlie would go out of her mind if she wasn't near Echo or Blue. Speaking of, Charlie looked down and noticed that the other three raptors were in various stages of sneaking up to the two. During cuddle time no less! Charlie growled as she crouched in Maria's lap, the soft hands leaving her side._

 _Blue squawked at her indignantly, unable to process that Charlie was growling at her, the nerve! As Blue began to initiate an attack, all five of them were surprised by the door swinging open, revealing alpha and Barry._

" _Oh, thank God," Maria said as she clasped her hands firmly onto Charlie's sides. "She got angry at Blue for some reason." Charlie huffed. There was a reason, she was interrupting cuddle time!_

 _Alpha hummed as he whistled, the three raptors stopping and looking at him for direction. He looked over to Charlie, who had been set free by Maria. "You wanna come over here, baby girl?" Charlie did not, especially after being called that, but he was the alpha, so she had no choice. Reluctantly, she hopped down and went to stand by Blue, flinching when she received a nip to her shoulder._

" _Blue," alpha said in warning. "Be nice, you probably startled Charlie." Blue looked at her little sister, who whined as she ducked her head. Charlie wasn't like Echo, she didn't care for the title of beta. "You're here early," alpha said now, looking at Maria._

 _The raptors turned to look at the woman, who shrugged. "Couldn't sleep, decided to come in early," she answered as Barry sat down next to her. She sent Charlie an air kiss, to which the raptor warbled at her precious one._

" _She doesn't make that sound at me," alpha complained._

" _You want me to be sorry?" Maria asked. "'Cuz it'll be fake." She was smiling however, her brown eyes turning a honey color. And Charlie felt herself warm at the sight, Maria had been with her her whole life, and she couldn't imagine a day when she wouldn't be._

* * *

 _One and a half years ago_

 _They ran through the forest, Charlie at Blue's side. Alpha was roaring on his contraption just behind the two, Barry somewhere in the back. Maria wasn't there, she didn't know where she was. She hoped she was okay, Maria would never disappear like this. Unless… Charlie sped up, did the dinosaur they were hunting hurt her? She hissed her concerns to Blue, who immediately cawed for the rest to speed up._

 _The scent they were chasing suddenly got too strong, causing the four of them to stop. Charlie pressed herself close to Blue and Echo, her tail lowered at loud footsteps were heard from up ahead, getting closer. The trees parted, and a large white dinosaur appeared. The four took a step back as the giant head lowered towards them._

 _Charlie was fearing the worse, and then something unexpected happened, the giant talked to them! Garbles and huffs, but their language all the same. Blue cawed twice in return, claiming the giant as their new alpha. Charlie didn't want her to be, she liked their old alpha, but maybe this new one could help her find her precious one._

 _In unison, the four turned to look back at the old alpha and the other humans. Blue crouched low first, the others just watching and waiting. Then rapid snaps were made, whizzing by Charlie and into the new alpha, who turned and roared disappearing back into the trees. Blue let out the call to attack, the four splitting off to divide and conquer, a move that their new alpha had taught._

 _Charlie lept through the air and landed onto a soldier who screamed bloody murder landing into the tall grass, her teeth sinking into his face as she shook her head from side to side. He wasn't going down as easily as a pig did, but after twisting her neck forward, his body let out a loud crunch. The man stopped screaming, stopped moving._

 _She poked her head up, licking her lips as she surveyed the chaos around her. Echo and Delta had disappeared, Blue was currently taking down multiple men. As her gaze panned to the side, she stopped as the old alpha stared at her. He had a weirdly shaped stick up and pointing at her, causing her head to cock to the side. The stick slowly lowered, and she warbled at him._

 _Charlie could admit that she was scared, and was in need of her precious one to assure her that everything will be okay. A little hope flared up inside, maybe her old alpha could take her to Maria! If she found her, everything will be alright again._

 _Charlie paused as she felt something hot approaching, and then it was dark._

* * *

Ripper laid out on the concrete floor, his golden gaze watching the world outside of the bars. He hated the cage, it was lonely. No one ever came down the hallway anymore, no one wanted to bother with him when Maria wasn't there. They were "too afraid he'd snap", for good reason, he'd been sharpening his claws just in case someone tried to mess with him. But he missed Maria, he missed his bed. She had placed some blankets in the cage for him, but it wasn't the same.

Ripper rolled his head to look through the clear door that lead into Maria's room. She had explained everything to him, he was too big to keep inside which he thought was debatable. But the door helped a little, at least he could see her whenever she was in the room. And the window to the side of the door allowed him to stick his head through whenever he wanted his chin scratched. The best times, however, was when Maria came into the cage herself to spend some time with him.

She was inside her room, curled up on her bed asleep. If he focused hard enough, he could hear her breathing. Sometimes he'd just lay there at night, listening to her breathe as he fell asleep. A frown pulled at his face, she was breathing a bit too fast for his liking. Normally, her breathing was even and slow, this was fast and uneven. Was she having a nightmare, was she sick?

Ripper hauled himself to his feet and stuck his head through the window to get a closer look at her. She was sweating, her brown hair sticking to her forehead. She was in a deep sleep, not even stirring when he squawked at her. Worry tingled in his belly, she'd never been this way before. The last time she was defenseless, was months ago when her bleeding had gotten bad. He had spent the whole week curled around her as she struggled to get through her day. But this was different, there was no blood.

He withdrew his head and turned towards the cage. She needed someone. He looked out of his cage, he could hear the guards talking amongst themselves down the hall. He wasted no time in calling out for them, loud squawks and caws, anything he could do to get them to come down the hall.

The guards went quiet, and for a brief moment Ripper thought they would come down to see what the problem was. Until, "it's that damn hybrid," and the sound of them moving _away_ from the hallway came. Ripper felt his heart sink, he wasn't going to attack them this time, not if they were going to help his precious one.

A whimper escaped him as he looked back at his Maria. If him being in the cage made them nervous, then if he left the cage…

The door was easy to break down, the glass cracking from the landing. It was getting inside that was the real issue here. His shoulders were too broad to fit in normally, and in the end he had to maneuver and squeeze his way through. His tail arched as he entered, sending Maria's perfume bottles flying through the air. She hardly stirred, which worried Ripper even more. Was she that sick?

Carefully, he climbed onto the bed and curled around her, protecting her. In the back of his mind, he knew that she was at her most vulnerable, if there was a predator who wished her ill will, she'd be powerless to stop them. He had to protect her from all around her.

Maria began to move, her eyes still closed but her hand came up to hold onto Ripper's arm. "Charlie," she said hoarsely when Ripper bent his head down to nuzzle her. "You're okay baby," she said.

Ripper cocked his head, Charlie? Who was that? His tail lashed out again, this time on purpose, knocking the mirror off of Maria's wall and onto the ground with a loud crash. He didn't want to destroy her den, but he didn't know how else to draw attention to her.

"Charlie, don't do that," Maria grumbled. "It's loud," she added pitifully.

Ripper garbled an apology, feeling genuinely sorry for what he was about to do. He drew his head up high and sucked in as much air as he could muster. And in one mighty roar, he succeeded in two things. Waking Maria up, and getting the guards attention. With Maria's scream of shock, the sound of footsteps came running down the hall.

" _He's not in the cage_!"

" _Someone call Mills!_ "

" _Get in there!"_ He knew that voice, he didn't think Dr. Wu would come running too.

Ripper looked down to check on Maria, and found her awake but still in a haze. Her eyes were open, but not really seeing. "You're not Charlie…" she mumbled as she shakingly patted Ripper's nose. "Or Rexy." He grumbled at her, no he was not a Charlie or a Rexy. He was Ripper, her Ripper. Did she forget about him?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door being unlocked, being swung wide and hitting the wall. The footsteps came to the entrance of the room, and skidding to a halt at the sight of Ripper curled around a violently coughing Maria. They took a step back, which prompted Ripper to growl, he wanted them to help her not leave her!

Thankfully, Wu caught on as he began to inch forward. "Maria," he called out as he kept his eyes on Ripper. Out of the entire personnel, he liked Wu the best. He always knew that Ripper could kill him in a second, yet he still took the time to talk to him and spend time with both him and Maria. Ripper decided that he'd kill Wu last. "Maria, are you okay?"

" _Sick_ ," Maria whined as she leaned her head onto Ripper's chest. She was becoming more aware of her surroundings, to which Ripper was grateful. "My little brother had the flu," she added.

"Oh, that would do it," Wu said in sympathy as he reached the dresser and stopped. "Maria, I want to help you, can you tell Ripper to go back into his cage so we can take you to the lab?"

Maria looked up at Ripper this time actually seeing him. A flash of surprise and guilt came over her eyes as she locked eyes with him. "Ripper, baby, thank you," she said softly and sincerely. "But you need to go back to the cage so they can help."

Ripper pressed his nose to her before slowly climbing off of the bed, not liking at all how she flopped down onto the mattress in exhaustion. He passed Wu, hissing at the guards behind the asian man, they'd die first. He squeezed back into his cage, with more ease and grace than before, turning to see them crowd around Maria's bed and began to pick her up.

"Take her upstairs, we can keep her under a watchful eye there," Wu instructed. He paused once everyone filed out and looked at Ripper. "You did good," he said softly before walking out.

Ripper moved to watch them carry his precious one out and into the hallway, her head resting on a guards shoulder. Her brown eyes opened as they neared the end of the hall, warm and clear as they looked at him. He let out a soft croon that ended in a whimper as they rounded the corner taking her out of sight.

He slowly sank onto the ground, his head resting onto the concrete floors. Golden eyes scanning the hall as the guards milled around and talked, looking down at him every now and then. He could hear the ding of the elevator, and a rush of footsteps approaching. The smell of leather and thick cologne filled the air as the man Mills came into view.

He talked with the guards, looking up towards where the labs were and then down to Ripper. Ripper felt his hackles rise, he really did not like that man, especially when he'd pressure Maria. The man looked like he wanted to come down closer to Ripper, but ultimately decided not to as he went towards the labs instead.

Ripper felt himself relax, Maria was in good hands with Wu. She'd get better, and then she can tell him why she thought of him as a Charlie and Rexy. They must have been important to her, and he loved hearing her tell stories and tales of her life before him. His golden eyes slid closed as he thought about who the mysterious two were, a soft smile on his face. He could wait, he just wanted his precious one well again.

 **Next chapter will start the descent of Ripper, he'll no longer be our baby boy rather than the Indoraptor that we see in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. I'm debating whether or not I want to do a time skip to the movie arch, or try to take it at the few month time skip I've been doing. Let me know what you think would work best, I have one more scene for Ripper in this stage of his life planned out.**


	9. An Instinct

**WARNING: this chapter contains animal abuse. Nothing in detail, but it's still a main presence in this chapter, so if anyone is sensitive to that, you've been warned and should proceed with caution.**

 _Five years ago_

 _Maria looked out into the paddock as Owen and Barry talked to Hoskins, her gaze watching the temps that were handling the cage. The girls down below were too small to see, barely the size of a cat. She didn't feel comfortable with them being out in the open like this, without any real protection from both the elements and the people. At least in the hatchery, she had the comfort of knowing that nothing could get to them unless they had the key._

" _Maria," Hoskins said snapping her out of her funk. "What's up sweetheart?"_

 _She ignored the nickname this time, her main concern overshadowing his misplaced friendliness. "Are they going to be safe?" She asked. "They're still small enough where a bird can carry them off."_

 _Hoskins looked down and frowned. "That is true," he said after a moment. "I'll call about installing a wire over the top," he said to assure her. She nodded, pleased with that. She didn't like Hoskins, he was too familiar with her, but she did appreciate how he'd listen and make changes to keep them and the raptors at ease._

 _Maria looked down at Charlie who was sneaking up on Echo, and smiled fondly at the two. She didn't feel comfortable leaving them in the open like this, but she knew it was ultimately for the best. They'd need to grow up in here, to explore it and get familiar with it for training._

* * *

" _Is Blue limping?" That was the first thing Maria noticed when she walked on the catwalk, her eyes trained on the limping raptor down below. She looked up at Owen and Barry, who were both leaning over to get a better look. "I'm not imaging this," she stated._

" _No, you are not," Owen confirmed as he walked towards one of the temps who was working overnight. "Hey!" he called out as he neared. "What happened to my beta?"_

 _The temp shrugged. "They were playing pretty hard last night," he answered. "Maybe she fell or twisted her leg."_

 _Maria frowned as she looked back at her Blue. The girls did play rough, but not that bad. They never got too hurt over it. "You're positive," she said looking the temp in the eyes._

 _The man met them for a second before looking away. "Yeah."_

 _Maria narrowed her eyes, he was suspicious but she had no proof that he was lying. She would talk to Hoskins about placing cameras in the paddock so that they can keep an eye on the raptors._

 _The next few days began the same way, each young raptor limping, or favoring their limbs. Maria was getting frustrated at this point, the temps denying anything other than the girls doing it to themselves. Hoskins was slow in getting the cameras set out, so the three were going out of their minds. It wasn't until Maria saw Charlie missing a few scales that she snapped._

 _The skin was raw, and looked as if she had received the missing scales by twisting out of someone's grip. Maria had paled, eyes wide as she looked down at her baby girl being surrounded by her sisters in a protective circle. It was the final straw, she'd seen the way the girls had shied away by the temps. Owen and Barry barely attempted to stop her as she stormed towards the small group of temps, all of them laughing with one another._

" _Hey!" She snapped as she drew near, her wild hair floating back behind her as she walked briskly. Her warm brown eyes now a fiery red. One of the temps took a step back as she came, and he was the first one she grabbed as Owen and Barry stood at her side. "What the hell did you guys do to our raptors?" She all but snarled at the kid._

" _N-nothing!"_

" _Don't lie to her," Owen threatened lowly, his arms crossed._

 _The kid looked from Owen to her nervously. "I didn't do it," he whimpered. "Ed did."_

 _Ed gasped as he was outed, and held his hands up in surrender when Maria dropped her grip on the kid and turned to him. Owen and Barry moved to him, a hand on each shoulder to keep him grounded. "I ain't sorry about a damn thing," he said to her, trying to be calm despite the fact that Owen was digging his fingers into the kids shoulder. "They killed my dad," he added._

" _You're dad was on the first park?" Maria asked. She didn't remember if any of the men killed during that incident had children, but maybe that detail was skipped over._

" _No, on Isla Sorna," he said. "He was on the scouting mission with Ludlow and his crew," he added. "My dad was close to escaping, and those creatures killed him and other men."_

 _Maria lost her sympathy. Kelly had told her all about the events at Isla Sorna and Ludlow's men and what they were doing on that island. "Your father had attempted to kidnap and transport dinosaurs for a park inland. My condolences, but that lost has nothing to do with our raptors here." She glanced over at Barry. "Call Claire. We're going to need new temps soon."_

 _Ed gasped, and shook off Owen's grip, taking a step towards her. "You don't decide what they do with me!" He snarled as he began to reach for her. Behind him, Owen and Barry let out shouts of warning as they attempted to grab him again, but Maria didn't need that. She swiftly delivered a punch to the kids nose, sending him stumbling backwards._

 _Barry let out a low whistle as he spoke into his phone, watching the kid lean against the railing as he nursed his wounds. Owen kept a hand on the kids shoulder, more firm this time. Maria turned her attention to the other two temps, silently telling them to stay put._

" _You guys better take note," Owen said shaking his head, "You just messed with the wrong mama bear here." Maria let out a small smile as she nodded, glancing down into the cage where the four raptors stood, watching the altercation. She felt awful for it taking this long for her to put an end to their torment, but she was confident that it'll never happen again._

* * *

Maria paced around the home as Wu was double checking her results, she'd been almost 24 hours without a fever. And while Ripper couldn't get sick, she didn't want to risk anything. Mills had ordered the door to be fixed, and had taken it upon himself to take her bed sheets and have them washed. And while she appreciated that, it felt a little weird knowing that he was in her room like that.

"Good news," Wu announced. "You're no longer contaminated."

"Oh thank god," Maria said as she walked over. "So I'm good to go back, right?" She'd been staying with Wu in his small apartment nearby while she got over her illness. Eli had told her over the phone that Ripper would be continuing his training under a new trainer, and that when she got better she could assist. She didn't like it, but she knew it was likely for the best.

"Yes, we can go back in a few hours," Wu answered as he leaned back in the chair. "But, let's talk for a moment," he said as he crossed his arms. "You've been quiet about Ripper and what happened in your home before we came in. Did something happen?"

Maria swallowed thickly and looked down. "I mean… yes." She looked up at him, heart feeling heavy. "I forgot he existed, when he had came in I thought… I thought he was Charlie." She took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I kept calling him Charlie," she added miserably.

Wu nodded. "I take it you haven't done that before," he deducted.

"No, I've been very aware of who he was, even when I've been half asleep," she said softly. "But I don't know, I guess I was delirious," she mused as she looked to Wu for his opinion.

Henry nodded. "That could explain it," he conceded. "You weren't coherent until way later, even when we found you, you were kind of in and out," he said. "It's not like you did anything wrong, if anything he probably knows you knew someone called Charlie."

"And Rexy," Maria murmured. "I called him Rexy too."

His eyebrows went up slightly. "I see," he said. "Did you call him anything else?"

Maria shook her head. "No, you guys came in before that could happen," she answered. "I should probably tell him, shouldn't I?"

"That's up to you," Henry said softly. "If you think you can handle it, then I won't stop you."

Maria nodded and pressed her lips together as she contemplated the idea. She'd told him stories of her life before him, on her old job and how she'd trained dinosaurs. But she never told him about her girls, at least not in detail. Maybe it was time.

* * *

She could hear his caws as she came through the back door with Henry, the low yet heavy sounds settling onto her bones as she came further inside. Eli was waiting for her with another man beside him, bald but not bad looking. Mills came up, and wrapped her into a hug, squeezing tightly before letting her go.

"I am so glad you're doing better," he said sincerely. "The Indoraptor has been difficult to work with in your absence." He added as the man behind him nodded. "This is Jeremy Gilbert, he's stepped in to be the lead trainer," he said in introduction as the man stepped forward.

"You've done an incredible job with him so far," Jeremy said as he shook Maria's hand, a genuine smile on his face, one that she returned. He really wasn't bad looking, in fact he was rather handsome and with a deep voice like that? She was kind of glad to be working with him.

"Thank you, and I hope he wasn't too bad," she said as she glanced over to the hallway where Ripper as cawing more loudly. She wanted more than anything to run down that hall and throw her arms around Ripper's neck, but she knew she couldn't. Not with her boss here, and her new partner. She needed to be professional first, and then a mother second.

"Well, I have all of my limbs intact," Jeremy said with a laugh, holding up a hand and wiggling his fingers as if to prove his point. "He's just been snappy, that's all," he said in a more serious tone. I expect it'll be easier with your presence, the two of you seem to hold an incredible bond."

Maria smiled softly as she nodded. "Yeah, we do," she said in agreement. "The imprinting process took a stronger hold than anything I'd ever seen. Not even Blue and Owen held a bond this strong," she added as she thought back on it. Blue was more than willing to kill Owen on the rare occasions that he got inside the paddock. Ripper never once seemed to wish ill-will on her.

Jeremy gave her an impressed look as he nodded. "Well, maybe later we can test that out?"

She nodded. "Yes, just let me get settled back in, and help ease Ripper so that we can work on training later," she said.

"Of course, I'll swing by in about two hours?"

"That's good, two hours is plenty of time," she said with a smile as she re-adjusted her bag onto her shoulder. "It was nice seeing you guys," she added as she left them with a wave, her speed quickening as she rounded the corner. She could see Ripper in the cage, his golden stripe shining bright in the light as he let out a loud caw in greeting. "I'm coming baby," she cooed as she unlocked her door and quickly came inside, shutting it behind her firmly.

Ripper's next caw came from inside the house, and she knew before she even rounded the corner that he had stuck his head in through the window. He gave her a smile as she came into the bedroom, the small feathers on the back of his neck rising. She placed her bag down on the floor by her bed and quickly came over to the glass door, smiling as he withdrew from the window to greet her as she came through.

His strong arms immediately wrapped around her waist, and drew her into his chest, a deep vibration filling her entire body as he turned to face the wall and sunk onto his hind legs. Maria smiled as she hugged him tightly, tears threatening to fall as she squeezed. His head ducked down as she stepped away, nuzzling her face as she took him in. He'd been fed, which was good. She had been worried about that.

"I'm back," she said softly as she placed her hands on either side of his face. "I'm back," she said more firmly as a low whimper escaped him. "You missed me?" She asked softly.

Ripper nodded as he pressed his snout into her cheek, his teeth slightly poking into her skin but not breaking it. Another whimper escaped him as he wrapped his tail around her.

"I'm sorry buddy," she said gently as she scratched under his chin. "I got sick, my little brother gave me something when I went to his birthday party earlier that day," she explained to him. "I don't get sick often, and when I do, I'm basically out of commission for a good while."

Ripper nodded again as he took in her explanation, already accepting it. He nudged her face again, a low whine escaping. "You want to know why I called you different names, I'm assuming," she guessed, smiling when he puffed air into her face as a 'yes'. "Alright, I guess it's been long overdue," she said sighing as she sunk onto the floor, Ripper following.

His head rested on her lap as she pulled out her phone, keying up the Jurassic World database, the behind the scenes videos were still up. The dinosaurs and their handlers, feeding times and even nightly routines were there for the viewers entertainment. It was very convenient, and Maria missed uploading onto the website. She pulled up Rexy first, since she was fairly positive that Wu had used her DNA to help make Ripper.

"One of the names I called you was Rexy, correct?" She asked as she looked down at him, a low rumble confirming. "Well, this is her," she said as she turned the phone for Ripper to look at. He tilted his head as he took in the twenty three year old tyrannosaur, her battle scars on full display as she proudly walked in her paddock. She had gotten more for sure after her fight with the indominus. "She was the oldest dinosaur in the park that I used to work at, the one I had told you about."

Ripper touched the side of his neck where Rexy's scars were, his eyes looking at her questioning. "She got those years ago, when the raptors in the first park had escaped. She killed one, and the other one attacked her in retribution. She killed that one too," she explained as she looked at the screen. She missed Rexy, she was a good listener and a constant in her life at the park. Her girls were too, but she always knew that Rexy was there if she ever needed her.

She moved to click on the video showing Rexy's morning routine, the elder dinosaur moving around her pen as she walked her perimeter. She thunderous steps only sounding faint through the speakers, but when she let out her mighty roar, her phone shook. Ripper let out an excited little chirp. He had roared like that, not to the same caliber as Rexy's but still powerful.

"You have her roar, albeit a little raspy," Maria said as she patted Ripper's neck. She moved the screen up to her again as she looked up the raptors. She took in a breath as she saw the first, and last video pop up. It was the day before she lost them. She showed the phone again, more somber this time. "These were my girls," she said softly as she pointed each one out in the thumbnail. "The silver one with the blue stripe is Blue, the brown one was Echo. The light greenish-blue one was Delta, and the green and brown striped one was Charlie." Ripper looked at her, noticing the past tense on the last three. "They're dead," she explained. "A dinosaur had gotten out, and killed two of them. Charlie was blown up in the confusion." Ripper nudged her cheek again, sensing her sadness. "Blue is left, all alone on the island," she added as she looked back down at the screen. She inhaled and let it out slowly before pressing play.

It was a video she had taken herself, the camera shaking as she walked onto the catwalk, the girls down below following. In the video, she had called out the girls names and laughed as they jumped and barked in response. It wasn't a training video, and they certainly weren't being trained at the time. It was a game that they had liked to do, to help strengthen their bonds with her and Barry.

" _Charlie girl!_ " She called from behind the camera, the footage zooming in on Charlie as she danced in place. " _There's my special girl!_ "

The video ended with all four raptors on screen, twirling as she cooed down at them. Maria, as she watched the video for the first time since she'd last posted it almost three years ago, smiled as warmth filled her. She could tell just how much they loved her, Blue holding a respect for her, Delta not quite with the program but still wanting to be involved. Echo and Charlie eagerly following her, the one human that they truly loved. Her girls had loved her just as much as she had loved them.

Ripper cocked his head at the screen and looked at her. "Those were the dinosaurs I had helped train," she explained. "Out of the four, Charlie was more my baby. She used to behave like you do when she was younger, that's why I thought you were her that day," she said softly as she pocketed her phone.

Ripper nodded as he took that in. It must have made sense, for he had simply laid his head back down onto her lap. She ran a hand over his scales, smiling down at him. "I can tell you about them, all five of them if you'd like," she offered, biting back a grin when he chirped excitedly at the thought. "Alright, I'll tell you more later tonight…" She trailed off as her hand ran over a rough patch of scales.

Moving to inspect them further, she saw that they were indeed burnt. The area around them cracked as if something electric had hit them. As her fingers prodded the out of place scales, Ripper let out a soft whine of pain. Maria's head snapped to him. "Ripper, did someone do this to you?"

Ripper moaned as he tucked his head further into her lap. That was all she needed. Rage boiled inside as she looked back at his scales, finally noticing about two more burnt and cracked areas. Someone had been abusing him in her absence. "Ripper, baby, pick your head up. I need to go discuss something," she said softly, as to not upset him.

Ripper whined, but did as he was told, promptly laying his head back down on the blanket that she had sat on previously. She gave him a gentle rub on the back of his neck before walking to the door on the cage, unlocking it and going through, relocking it. She turned and stalked to the end of the hallway, feeling like a tiny puffball full of rage.

"Ah, Ms. Brennan," a guard said as she came into view. He gave her a friendly wave, unaware of her fiery eyes glaring daggers into him. "Welcome back."

"Who's been tasering my asset?" She growled as she strode towards him, the man faltering as he finally noticed the atmosphere.

"I, I'm sorry?"

"The indoraptor, his scales are cracked and burnt, something that wasn't there a few days ago," she said lowly. "Now who has been doing it."

"I don't know," he said sincerely. "I only work days, and we don't go down that hall unless it's to feed him."

She narrowed her eyes before nodding. "The hallway is off limits," she said. "Spread that around to your buddies, and especially the ones over night. Unless you have explicit permission from _me_ , you are not to go down that hallway. If I see another set of cracked scales, I will be taking heads," her threat came out even toned, sending a shiver down his spine.

"Yes ma'am," the guard said as he took a step backwards. "I'll be sure to pass it along."

Satisfied, she turned and went back to her hallway. Ripper raising his head as she came back into the cage, a low croon escaping as she lowered herself back down onto the ground. She wrapped an arm around his neck as his head came back to her lap, her eyes staring at the blank wall in front of them.

"No one is going to hurt you again," she promised him. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

Ripper let out a low rumble of appreciation, his head tucking back into her lap, the raised bumps and scales on his head digging into her thighs. He believed her, truly he did. She always kept him safe from the guards if she was around. But, he also remembered the one time they had gotten to him. Breaking into their home and tried to pull him out. He remembered taking the man's arm, and more importantly, he remembered liking it. The feeling of flesh and muscle tearing under his teeth, the feeling of raw power when the bones snapped. The sound of flesh separating from flesh, and the taste of blood filling in his mouth. It was exhilarating, and if he hadn't had been so scared at the time, he would have gone for a second bite.

He thought on the guards that used the biting sticks on him, that had hurt far more than Wu's needles. He had tried to catch a bite or two out of them, but they were smart and stayed just out of his reach. Ripper wished for nothing more at the time than to break through the bars. They wouldn't be laughing then, they'd be begging for their lives and he wouldn't be merciful. But, after they had left, he longed for Maria to come back and hold him.

But she was here now, and she'd keep them away from him once again. But, deep down, he wanted them to come. He wanted to tear into them, rip them limb from limb. He hated these people, with their guns and their weird smelling equipment. He hated their sneers and their voices. He only truly loved Maria, she'd been there since the beginning offering only love and compassion. The others hadn't, and for that, he held no loyalty towards them.

A soft growl escaped him as he began to plan. If he couldn't get out and kill them all, maybe he could lure them in. That was risky, if Maria got sick again, she'd have to get help herself. But, if she didn't… he smiled, a cruel smile. He'd get them all back, even if he had to wait and do it one by one.

 **I firmly believe that while in his cage, the guards abused the indoraptor heavily. Dr. Wu probably took countless samples from him which wouldn't help things at all. And in the scene where he's revealed at the auction, I also believe that those cattle prods (?) were used on him a lot as well.**

 **Also, we have about maybe two more chapters before we hit the movie portion of the story! That said, what are you guys hoping to see? I found out something interesting, and I'm thinking about using it as a later plot device. But I'm curious to know what you guys want to see!**


	10. Ripper Makes his Move

**Sorry for the delay, I got an Xbox and Jurassic World Evolution has become an obsession..**

 **Also, slight trigger warning. there's some non-descriptive gore in here.**

 _Five years ago_

 _Maria walked through the hatchery room, carefully stepping around the small pile of sleeping raptors. Owen and Barry were on the other side, looking at a smaller pile of raptors, and judging from their looks, they had lost another small clutch of raptors. She felt her heart sink, they'd lost eight already from the thirty six that there was originally._

" _Who is it?" She asked softly as she stopped by Owen's shoulder._

" _Golf, Hotel, November and Quebec," Owen answered. "Charlie's in there, we think she doesn't want to leave her clutch mates."_

 _Maria felt her heart crack, Charlie was more close with her clutch than she was with the other girls. "You want me to get her?" She asked as she saw her little green baby shift in the pile._

" _Yes," Owen confirmed. "She can't get sick as well."_

 _Maria nodded and crouched down by the pile, gently cooing to the young raptor. Charlie poked her head up and rapsed out a greeting to Maria, sniffing the woman's hands as they came near. "You're okay baby girl," Maria said softly as she gently cupped Charlie's body. The baby raptor didn't catch onto what was happening until it was too late, her little body beginning to wriggle as she was lifted from her sisters._

" _Charlie, calm down baby," Maria said as she struggled to keep Charlie in her arms. The young raptor let out a hiss as she turned to face Maria, her teeth barred. "Charlie!" Maria said sternly as she noticed the glint in the young raptors eyes._

" _Charlie," Owen said as he came close, ready to grab the raptor from her._

 _Charlie turned and hissed, her sickle claw digging into Maria's arm prompting the woman to cry out in pain. Charlie paused, her anger abandoned as she looked at the blood that trickled down Maria's arm. A whimper escaped the raptor as Owen took her, the young one turning to hid in Owen's jacket._

" _Get her to the infirmary," Owen said to Barry, who promptly wrapped an arm around Maria's shoulders._

" _I'm good," Maria said in protest as she was lead away. "Really, it's not that deep!"_

" _She could have nicked something," Barry said as he continued to push her towards the door. They passed by Blue and the other clutches looked up at the two of them as they made their way out. Concerned chirps and growls emitted from them._

* * *

 _She was lucky that nothing was nicked, that it was just a simple scratch that only required bandages and not stitches. She was back in the hatchery by the next day, eager to reconcile with Charlie. Owen met her outside, engulfing her in a hug._

" _How's the arm?" He asked as he withdrew._

" _Not bad," she answered honestly. She appreciated the concern, but she'd rather not get rushed out of the hatchery like that ever again. "How's the girls?"_

 _Owen frowned. "Charlie… well, she's been a bit withdrawn since you left yesterday."_

 _Maria frowned now. "How bad?"_

" _Won't let anyone near really, she keeps whining everytime we do," he answered. "Haven't seen her eat yet today, and I'm worried if that continues we'll have one more dead raptor on our hands."_

 _Maria gulped and nodded as she looked at the door. "Let me go at her, one on one," she suggested. "Get the other girls out, and let me try to get Charlie back to her normal self."_

 _Owen thought it over and nodded, "yeah, I think that'll work," he said finally. "I'll go tell Barry, and we can work on moving the girls next door," he said as he opened the door, his boot in the way blocking Delta and Foxtrot from getting out._

 _The two made their way in, Barry looking up and grinning at Maria. "Welcome back!" He said cheerfully as he made his way over to them. He wrapped her up in a hug, squeezing her as the two rocked slightly. "Your arm okay?"_

" _Yeah," she said as she pulled away and smiled at him._

" _Did Owen tell you about Charlie?"_

" _I did," Owen confirmed, "she, as always, has a plan."_

" _If you guys could move the other girls out, I can try to get Charlie out of her shell," Maria explained as Barry looked from Owen then back to her._

" _Yeah, of course," Barry said as he nodded. "We got a couple of carriers in here, we can get them in and out fast," he said. Both him and Owen grabbed the containers, Maria grabbing the baby raptors and handed them over. The girls all screeched as they were piled in, but the three of them knew they weren't hurt in anyway. They were just spoiled and hated being in a cage._

 _Once the lids were shut, the two men bid their farewell to Maria and made their way outside. Once the door clicked shut, she turned to look for Charlie. Finding the small raptor underneath one of the benches, she sat down on the ground a few feet in front of it, facing the door as to not scare the young raptor away._

 _There was silence for a few moments, save for her and Charlie's breathing. Maria glanced over at the raptor, locking eyes before Charlie turned away with a wail. Maria felt her heart break, was she really punishing herself for hurting her?_

" _Baby, you don't have to be afraid of me," Maria whispered as she held out her injured arm just shy of the bench. "I know you didn't mean to hurt me," she added. Charlie let out another cry, her sickle claws tapping against the floor as she shifted on her feet. "You're my sweet baby, I know you'd never hurt me intentionally like that," she said softly._

 _Charlie whined softly as she inched forward, her muzzle just barely touching her arm. Maria looked at the raptor with soft and patient eyes, silently encouraging her to continue. Cautiously, the green raptor came out of the shadows, her tail almost in between her legs. She looked up at Maria, sniffed her injured arm, and then promptly launched herself into the woman's lap. Maria wrapped her arms around the whining baby, her head bowed as she looked down at her. Charlie wrapped her arms around one of Maria's and looked up at her with a rasp._

" _Hey there," she said softly as she rubbed her thumb against Charlie's cheek. "Hey, sweetness," she cooed._

 _Charlie looked up at Maria like she was the light, the moon and the stars. Her big amber eyes stared into Maria's warm honey brown. She nuzzled into Maria's palm, a purr emanating throughout her entire body, causing her to practically vibrate._

" _You're my good girl," Maria said to her. Charlie seemed to smile at that, her tail curling around her wrist, hiding her bandage. Yeah, Charlie was for sure her baby girl, and nothing would change that._

* * *

Maria and Kelly both weaved their way through the early christmas crowds, Kelly leading the way while Maria held onto her friends elbow to keep them together. The two had been planning this get together for months now, Kelly's work schedule always conflicted with Maria's training. But through weeks of efforts, the two finally did it. A whole weekend away, no one but the two of them.

And while she did miss Ripper, and worried about his well being during her absence, she also missed her best friend. The last time they had been together was years ago, back when the park was still up and running and before the thought of hybrids ever crossed Masrani's mind. Of course they still kept in touch, and often video chatted, but Maria couldn't hug a screen and feel her friends warmth. It just wasn't the same.

"What store are we looking for again?" Maria asked her friend as they managed to find a break in the crowds.

"Hallmark," Kelly answered. "I like to buy their snow globes for dad."

Maria smiled and nodded, she did remember the small collections of globes that Dr. Malcolm used to collect. He'd always display them proudly in the living room, making sure everyone saw them when they came into his home. Maybe she'd get him a snowglobe too, he was always like a second father to her.

"How is he, by the way?" Maria asked as they began to walk again. "I haven't seen him in ages."

"He's writing a new book," Kelly said. "Shockingly not about dinosaurs and the falling of Jurassic World. It's actually an autobiography."

"It's like his, what, fifth one?"

"Sixth, but we don't count the one he did after our little incident with that bull rex," Kelly said as they slipped into the Hallmark store. The two went to the back, pushing past some of those who were parked in the middle of the isles.

Kelly shot a glance at her friend as they regarded the wall, looking away once Maria caught her staring. "What?"

"I just… have you been doing okay?" Kelly asked her friend sincerely. "I know it's been almost two years since… everything. But you really loved those raptors, and I don't know… I've been worried."

Maria smiled softly as she looked back to the snowglobes. "It's been hard," she admitted. "There's been days where I've just broke down because I'd remember one of them. But it's getting easier, I've been talking to someone about them more and more." What Kelly didn't need to know was that that someone was a ten foot tall dinosaur hybrid.

"Good, that's great," Kelly said with a wide smile. "Both Dad and I had been concerned, especially when you jumped into your Top Secret job." She paused now. "How is that, by the way?"

"Good, top secret," Maria said with a wink. "No, but seriously, it's been good. It pays good, and I get to have pretty much free room and board."

"And your top secret?"

"Good as well," Maria said. She looked at the snowglobes and grabbed one that was from San Diego. "You think I could get a t-rex in this thing?"

"I'm sure we can find some stickers," Kelly said with a snicker.

* * *

The two made it back to Kelly's apartment, their shopping bags hanging off of their hands as they filed into the living room. Maria placed her belongings next to her duffle bag and stretched, her arms aching as the blood came rushing back through the veins.

"What time do you have to go back to your job?" Kelly asked as she placed her bags on the kitchen table. She looked over to her friend as she began to pull out some of the food she had bought as well.

"Probably should head back in a few hours," Maria answered as she looked at her phone. She frowned as she noticed a call from Wu. "I'll be right back, someone from work called," she told her friend as she stepped out onto the back patio, shivering in the cold breeze. Dialing, she pressed the phone to her ear and looked out to the forest as she waited for him to pick up.

"Thank god," Wu said as he finally answered. "You need to come back soon, Mills is talking about killing the Indoraptor."

"He's _what_?" Maria felt her blood go cold. "Why is he, what the hell happened?"

"A light bulb went out in his pen, we tranqed him, two darts and he went down. The tech went in, shut the door, and then the raptor got up and killed him." Wu explained in a hushed tone. "We couldn't do anything but watch and listen. Mills is fed up, he's tired of the Indoraptor attacking his people. You need to get down here soon, I've been placating him for now. But he's wanting to get the remains out, and I know you'll be able to keep him away from the others."

Maria nodded, and swallowed thickly. "Yeah, yeah I'll head out within the hour," she said as she turned back to the door. "Tell Mills that I'll take care of it as soon as I get there," she added before hanging up.

Kelly looked up as she entered, a wary look on her face. "Something happened at work?"

"Yeah, it's an emergency," Maria said as she looked at her friend. "They need me back within the hour."

Kelly nodded and came over, wrapping her friend in a hug. "I'll help you get your things together," she said as she pulled away.

"I'm really sorry," Maria said in apology as she followed Kelly to her spare bedroom. "I wanted to have some more time with you."

"Maria," Kelly looked at her friend, a fond smile on her face. "I understand. You're job is important, I may not know what it is, but I do know that you're in the middle of it all. You've always been the foundation of everything, even back in school. If you're not there to keep things together, they'll fall apart. We spent two days together, that's more than I can ever hope for due to our jobs."

Maria smiled gratefully at her friend. "Maybe one day we can do it again," she said as she began to grab her clothes from the dresser.

"Oh yes, definitely," Kelly said in agreement. "Hopefully for a week. You said in about a year you'd be free, right?"

"If things go the way I think they will," Maria confirmed. "They'll use the information I've given them for their future projects, and I'll be either in the background or retired from the company," she added. "They haven't really discussed that with me yet."

"That's a little weird that they haven't," Kelly said with a furrowed brow as she helped zip up the duffle bag.

"Yeah, but they've been pretty busy," Maria said as she shrugged. She grabbed the strap to the bag and hoisted it over her shoulders, following her friend out to the front where her other bag laid. Kelly took that bag and grabbed Maria's shopping bags before opening the front door.

"I'll help carry these out for you," she said with a smile, one that Maria copied. "I'll also give you dad's address in case you want to ship that snowglobe over," she added as they descended down the stairs.

"Oh, you're a lifesaver," Maria said as she carefully stepped down. "I was just gonna swing it by you and pray for the best." Both girls let out a giggle as they stopped by Maria's car, the woman unlocking it and throwing her bag inside the back seat before turning and taking the bags that Kelly held. "I just wanted to thank you again for letting me stay the weekend here," she said to Kelly. "And I'm sorry for having to leave so soon."

Kelly wrapped her into a hug, squeezing her friend before letting go. "Really, Maria, it's fine. You have a job to do, and I gotta go back to work tomorrow. We should totally do this again soon, though," she added. "Maybe I can get a full week off."

"Oh, now that would be a blast," Maria said with a giggle as she gave her friend one final hug before climbing into her car. The two waved at each other as she backed out of the parking space. With one final wave, Maria turned her focus to the road, and onto the task ahead.

* * *

"He's calmed down," Wu said to her as soon as she got inside the warehouse. "Still upset about the whole thing, but he's not talking about killing the Indoraptor any longer."

"Oh, thank god," Maria said as she followed him to the hallway, she could already hear Ripper's growls. "How bad is the asset?"

"Anytime we get close to the cage, he tears off a chunk of the corpse," Wu said grimly. "He didn't even eat the man, he just killed him and is mutilating him."

Maria shuddered, she didn't know what was worse. Being killed and eaten, or being killed and not eaten. She spotted Mills leaving the hallway, and gave him an apologetic look when he noticed her. "Eli, I am so sorry," she said as he came over.

"It's… it's fine," he said as he took off his glasses and rubbed his face. "I mean, the situation isn't, but with you here we can get it back under control."

"Of course, whatever you need me to do," she said as she followed him to the entrance of the hall.

"We need you to be there in the cage with him as we go in to get the body," he said. "I think, if you stay in front of him, he won't go after the other men."

Maria nodded, while she knew that Ripper has never once purposely hurt her, she didn't necessarily feel confident that he wouldn't go livid with the others in his cage. She'd had to keep his focus on her and her only, and even then, that might not work. "Yeah," she said after a minute. "Yeah, let me go in."

"Thank you, Maria! This really does help!" Mills called as she walked down the hallway.

She felt a wave of nausea hit her as the sight of blood splatter and, oh god, that was _organs_ , came into view. She pressed her lips together and quickly went into her home, calling out to Ripper as she walked. She was greeted with his head poking in through the window, blood dripping onto her floor.

"Hey, buddy," she said as lightheartedly as she could. She opened the door and stepped out, wincing as she almost slipped against the unnaturally wet concrete. "I see you've been busy," she added as she looked up at him.

Ripper smiled and nodded, a gleeful look in his eyes. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong in killing the man, and in retrospect, may he hadn't. The cage was his territory that he only shared with her, the technician had trespassed. The ten foot tall dinosaur leaned over and nuzzled her, a purr rumbling out as she hugged him. This was good, she just needed to him to keep his attention on her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two of the men slowly approach the gate. "Hey, bud, why don't we go over here," she suggested as she turned, keeping his head away from the gate, and ushered the two of them into the corner. "Tell me about your day."

Ripper merely rasped into her ear, a little term of endearment that he'd kept from his infant days. One of his arms wrapped around her middle to keep her near, as if he'd notice her uncomfort around all the blood. She couldn't help but smile at that, he might have just killed a man in cold blood, but he was still acting like her perfect guardian angel.

There was a sudden curse, a foot sliding against the wet pavement, and suddenly Ripper became aware of the additions to the cage. His head jerked up with a growl, hatred filling his eyes as the two men looked up, almost dropping the torso they held.

Maria let out a curse and immediately got in front of them, a hand held out as Ripper dropped onto his arms. "Rip, no," she said sternly. He paused, head tilted as he regarded her. The two men didn't waste any time in getting the body parts out, yelping every time Ripper tried to advance on them. "Rip!"

Ripper growled, long and low, as he stared at the two men. She didn't know how long she'd be able to keep him in check before he turned onto her, but she didn't think she had much longer. And then, it happened, one of the men reached by her, trying to grab an arm, and slipped. They latched onto her for balance, causing her to stumble backwards with a yelp.

Ripper had had enough. He launched forwards with a roar, arms upright to snag onto the man. The man quickly turned and ran, his buddy slamming the door shut. Ripper, in his blind fury, failed to notice as one of his claws dug into Maria's arm, ripping through like it was nothing. Maria let out a scream of pain, immediately dropping to the ground as Ripper lept backwards.

"Maria!" Wu called as he advanced down the hall, Mills and the guards right behind him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" She called back as she looked up at Ripper, who immediately flinched away from her gaze with a whimper. "Rip, it's okay," she said softly.

The dinosaur merely shook his head with a moan as he turned around and laid down in the corner, his head tucked under his arms. She staggered to her feet, intent on comforting her baby, when Wu reached in and touched her arm.

"Maria, come out. We have to get that patched up," he said. "You can't do much if you bleed out."

Maria looked from him and back to Ripper. "I'll be back soon," she called softly as she backed to the gate, waiting for one of the guards to open it so she could get out. She watched Ripper, his golden stripe shivering through his turmoil. Her heart felt like it was cracking into pieces, and she didn't know if things could be fixed this time.

* * *

What had he done, _what had he done?_

He'd hurt her, _her_ , his precious one. He could still hear her scream of pain, smell her blood through the air. He whimpered as he looked at his haggard talon, he'd rubbed it against the concrete to rid himself of her blood. It hurt, but he deserved the pain.

He deserved to be alone.

He could hear the guards talking, about her and about him. They said that she'd be okay, that she was fortunate that he didn't take out an artery. That she'd be back tomorrow morning, with stitches and an order not to pick up anything heavy. His trainer, Jeremy, was there as well, making comments that made Ripper wish he had come into the cage instead of that technician. He didn't like that man, he was loud and rude and he always looked at Maria too much.

Ripper whined again as she ran through his mind. He hadn't meant to hurt _her_. Only the man that touched her. When he had seen her jerk backwards and yelp, he had seen red. Someone touched his precious one, and almost caused to her fall. But that man was fast, and she was caught in the middle.

He sighed as he tucked his head under his tail. He hoped morning came soon. He longed to see his precious one, to be sure that she was okay. Even if it meant seeing hatred in her eyes at the very sight of him.

He awoke to the guards talking, loud and worried. He barely twitched, though his eyes opened in recognition to their words.

"Miss Brennan, are you sure you want to go down there?"

"Please think about your safety!"

"I _am_ safe," his precious one stated annoyed. Her steady footsteps drew near, the lovely scent of vanilla wafted through the air and into his cage. He inhaled that sweet scent, breath shuddering as the thought of never smelling it again came.

He heard her door open and close. Normally, he'd be poking his head into the window to greet her by now, but he couldn't talk himself into getting up. Maybe if he'd laid here long enough, everything would go back to normal? He heard her sigh from inside, and whined, going invisible to keep her from seeing him as she came into the cage.

He felt her pause when she came in, felt her gaze against his scales after a moment.

"You can go invisible, Ripper, I still know where my baby is," she said as she came over to him. He felt her kneel down behind him, a soft hand landing against his scales. "Why don't you let me see you, baby?"

He shook his head and shifted away, hands tucked in as to not touch her with them. He heard her sigh, a heartbroken tone in it. It made him whimper again, he just kept hurting her it seems. "Rip, I know you didn't mean to do it. I was in the way," she said softly. "You don't have to hide away from me."

She came around to his head, her small hands tucking underneath his chin to lift it up. He complied, the fight gone from him since yesterday. She sat down, legs crossed, and laid his head back down. "Oh, baby, what am I going to do with you?" She asked sadly as her hand rubbed his snout. He shuddered and turned visible again, eyes shut tightly.

"Are you not even going to look at me?" She asked. He shook his head, nose burying into her stomach. Her thumb ran across small horns on the top of his head, brushing against the small feathers that resided. "You know, Charlie did the same thing once," she said offhandedly. "I even have a scar to prove it."

He cracked open an eye at that. He liked hearing her talk about her scars, and about Charlie. She caught his eye and smiled lovingly down at him, his heart hurting from the raw emotion he was feeling. She still loved him, she still wanted to be around him! She held out her arm, a long and thin scar ran down from her wrist to the middle of her forearm. He turned his nose to sniff at it, it didn't smell different from the rest of her, though that was true for all of her scars.

"I have a scar from each one of my raptors," she said. "Two from Charlie, however. And now I get to have one from you," she added. She let out a sigh when his eyes dulled at the thought. "Maybe that was the wrong thing to say... " she pursed her lips and looked down at him. "Charlie behaved the same way, you know. When she gave me this. Took me having coax her out from underneath a chair for her to listen to me."

He looked up at her, taking in her eyes. She had honest eyes, the color of honey in the sunlight. A golden brown. He loved her eyes, they were pretty to look at and her emotions shone through them as if she were saying them aloud. And right now, they were saying that she didn't blame him for a single thing.

His arms wrapped around her suddenly, drawing her in as he tucked his head into the crook of her neck. Her arms wrapped around his neck, the bandage on her arm brushing against his scales. Another whimper escaped him, he wasn't scared anymore, but he wanted to get closer to his precious one. Until no one could tell them apart.

"I'm here," she said softly. "I'm not going anywhere. I've already lost so much, baby, please don't make me lose you too."

He shook his head. She had lost so much, he'd heard every story she had to tell it felt like. He knew of her sorrow, her pain. And he'd be damned if he let himself become another loss. He felt himself resolve as he tucked her further against himself, tail coming around to curl around them both. He wasn't going to let her get hurt any longer, not from him. Not from anyone else.

For as long as he lived, she'd be safe.

 **Again, so sorry for the delay! I hope this makes up for it though! We should be transitioning into the Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom portion of the story soon, I believe it's next chapter?**


	11. Decisions for the Future

**We have progress and we have Maisie**

 _Three years ago_

 _Maria stretched her legs out, joints cracking from the release. Today was a slow day, rain was pounding against the roof, reminding them as to why they were currently hiding out. That, and Vic was in a mood today and none of them wanted to deal with that._

" _What do you think will happen down the road?" Owen asked suddenly. "I mean, when the girls are all grown and trained, what do you think will happen?"_

 _Barry looked outside the window thoughtfully. "They'll probably introduce raptors into the military like they've been wanting to do," he said finally. "Maybe we'd be brought in to train and supervise. Well, you would at least," he added as he looked back to Owen. "Maria and I aren't on the same paygrade."_

" _I wouldn't do it without either of you," Owen said sincerely. Maria believed him, he was a stubborn bastard. If they told him no, he'd place everything at a standstill until the answer changed to his favor._

" _I might just integrate into the park," Maria mused. "Maybe with another carnivore."_

" _You'd be good with Rexy," Owen said as he looked over at her._

" _Or Strawberry," Barry added as he thought of their ceratosaurus. "Her and Peaches."_

 _Maria nodded as she thought those choices over. They were relatively calm dinosaurs, preferring their daily routine and calm surroundings. Rexy liked to have her daily goat at her set times, and just barely tolerated her handler when he did the shows. And Strawberry and Peaches liked to roam more than anything else, the two practically joined at the hip as they walked around their enclosure. They didn't mind a little excitement here and there, but they mostly prefered to stay by themselves and get cooed at by their handlers._

" _Rexy's handler has mentioned retiring," Maria mentioned. "Larry doesn't like it when other trainers start sniffing around his girls," she added with a snicker. Owen knew that fact well when he found out first hand just how protective he was over his horn nosed beauties._

 _Owen shuddered at the memory, still hearing the lecture that Larry had put him through. Really he wasn't doing anything wrong, he had just wanted to see them closer, and had come into the back observation room. Larry had chewed him out, asking if four raptors weren't enough for him. "Go to Darryl," he said. "He'd be happy to cross train you."_

* * *

 _Maria took a deep breath as she looked up at the tall fences that contained the tyrannosaur. Rexy was legendary, one of the original dinosaurs from the original park. She was also the oldest here so far, Delilah their triceratops was just under a year younger than the fearsome predator. She was big, she was scarred, and she just held the presence that earned her the title of Queen of the Island._

 _She startled at the roar, and heard Darryl shush at her, she cracked a smile as she walked towards the back of the cage where the personal observation deck resided. Each cage was designed with the purpose for privacy with the trainers and their dinosaur. She poked her head in, spying Darryl as he leaned against the railing, Rexy looking back at him._

" _Hey, Darryl," she said, snapping him out of his daydream. "You got a minute?"_

" _Yeah, of course," Darryl said with a smile. He was an older man, in his late fifties, and sported a handlebar mustache that'd make the manliest men cry in envy. He was big, he was wide, and he sported several scars. However, he was the sweetest man she'd ever met. "What can I help you with, my dear?"_

" _Well, I was wondering if I could get cross trained with Rexy?" She asked, biting her lip as both him and Rexy looked at her._

" _Sure," Darryl said easily. "Queenie has to be left in good hands when I leave anyway," he added with a wink as he placed a hand gently on her shoulder and led her over to the glass. 'This your first time seeing her?"_

" _I've gone to her shows," Maria answered._

" _No, I mean_ seeing _her," he emphasized as the two stopped in front of the glass. "Maria, I'd like to formally introduce you to the Queen of Jurassic World, Roberta." He said grandly, Rexy making a pleased rumble at the title._

 _Maria looked up at the massive head in front of her in awe. It was one thing when you were fifteen feet away in a fake log, watching her feed. It was another to be three feet away, with only a sheet of glass separating the two of you. Rexy regarded her, and then let out a mighty roar causing everything in Maria to vibrate._

" _She likes you," Darryl said with a laugh._

" _Her, her name is Roberta?"_

" _Yeah," he answered as he looked up at the tyrannosaur. "Her legal name is Roberta, and the previous trainers nick named her Rexy."_

 _She nodded as she looked back up to Roberta. "She's gorgeous," she said as she took in the deep brown stripes that ran along her spine. "And her scars," she looked back to him._

" _Raptors," he supplied. "She snatched up the Big One, and her mate gave her those in retaliation." The two watched as Roberta turned, the scars glittering in the setting sunlight, and disappeared back into the forest. "I think you'd do just fine, Kiddo," he said as they looked at the still swaying branches._

 _Maria cracked a smile. She thought so too._

* * *

Maria sat in Mills office, watching and waiting for him to get off of the phone with Lockheart. She tried to make it seem like she wasn't listening, but there was only so much she could look at in here. Her leg nervously bounced, she hadn't been up here before, he was very adamant about her not coming into the mansion or else they'd both be in big trouble.

"Thank you, good bye," Mills said into the phone before finally hanging up. He ran a hand through his hair and fixed her with a smile. "Sorry about that, the contractors wanted to clarify some things."

"Oh, it's no problem," Maria said as she smiled back to her boss. "So, what did you want to discuss?"

"The Indoraptor, or Ripper," he said as he turned to face her fully. He eyed her bandage. "How is that healing, by the way? It's been a month or so."

She looked down at the bandage. She really didn't have to wear it anymore, the wound was mostly healed over. But it still made Ripper wince every time he saw the rawness of the healing gash. She was simply in the waiting game for the redness to go away. "It's healing good, maybe another week and I'll be able to do without the wrapping."

"Good, good," he said. "I'll be honest, that still scared the crap out of me when it happened," he admitted with a lighthearted chuckle. He cleared his throat, and laid his hands on top of one another as he looked at her. "But that's not entirely why we're here," he said, his tone all business now. "Maria, I'm going to ask you something, and I want a professional answer, not a emotional one," he said with a raised brow.

"Yes, of course," she said, waiting for him to continue.

"In your personal opinion, is the Indoraptor fit for field work?"

Maria pressed her lips together as she thought that over. The answer was simple, really. "No," she said finally. "Not without him turning on the team he'd be with as well. The Indoraptor has no loyalties, save for me, he'd happily turn on people."

"I see, and so, you believe that we should begin our focus onto a final product of sorts?"

She nodded, "yes," she bit her lip as she tried to figure out how to phrase what she wanted to say. Ripper wasn't heartless, or souless, but he was very loyal to her and her only. "The greatest thing that the Indoraptor lacks, is the ability to bond with others. He has his one person, and after that, everyone seems to be fair game. If you were to create another raptor, I'd highly suggest either multiple trainers, or a strike team that takes care of the infant around the clock."

Eli nodded as he thought that over. "That could work. Maybe we did him a disservice when we limited him to just you," he said aloud. He looked back to her, blue eyes warming slightly. "Thank you, Maria."

"No problem," she said as she looked at him. He was more relaxed now, maybe that was all he needed to hear?

"I have another thing to discuss with you," he said as he sat back up. He turned around in his chair, looking for something, then turned back with a folder in his hands. He gently laid it out in front of her, the name "Isla Matanceros" looking back up at her. "Take a look," he urged.

Frowning, she opened the folder to see purchase documents for the island. She scanned over the information, her brows pinching together when she saw her name listed as the owner of the island. "I don't understand," she said looking back up at him.

"I bought the island for you," he said. "For you and Ripper. I have a house already being built, a couple really just in case. There'll be a boat available for you to use to go into the mainland as well."

"You did this for me and Ripper?" She clarified as she looked back down. "Why?"

"Because I know you have a bond with him," Eli said simply. "After we perfect the genome for the new indoraptor, we won't need you to train it. We'll use your tips and videos as a guide for the next few trainers. And since we won't be requiring you or Ripper, I think it'd benefit the both of you to retire to a place where he can run free without anyone really worrying about their life being at risk."

Maria smiled softly at the thought of that. "Do I need to pay you back?" She asked as she looked up.

"No, this is being done as a friend," he said. "You have no idea how much I appreciate you coming in, and doing all of this. I really couldn't have done this without you," he said sincerely.

Maria nodded, eyes misting as she looked at him. "Thank you," she said softly, voice wobbling. "You have no idea how much that means to me, how much _this_ ," she clenched the folder in her hands, "means to me."

Eli nodded and smiled at her. "Give us another year, Wu is aiming for the perfect strand. After that, if you could be present for the interview process of the next batch of men, that would be wonderful as well. Then I'll pay for both you and Ripper to go to the island, and you can spend the rest of your lives in a paradise."

Maria nodded with eyes slightly wide. "Yes, yes of course," she said sincerely. "Anything. Thank you, for everything again."

"Don't forget to thank Wu, he was the one that insisted I interview you first before anyone else," Eli said as he stood up with her following suit. "And to think, I almost called in Grady."

Her smile strained at the mention of Owen, a pang of guilt in her chest. He probably would have taken the job, to be sure that no one else messed it up, and then he would have fought tooth and nail for her and Barry to be added on as well. He was considerate like that, whereas she simply thought of herself and didn't bother to extend a hand in his direction. The little voice in her head simply said that it would have been useless anyway, their friendship was likely over, dead and laid to rest like their girls were.

"Well, I certainly am relieved to hear that I came before him," she said only semi-jokingly. While he was one of her closest friends, it had irritated her greatly when people skipped over her skills in favor for him. It wasn't like she worked with wild animals in the past or anything, certainly not bears and wolves that were brought in after being caught in traps. She worked head on with the raptors, her and Barry, and yet he got all of the recognition.

"Of course," Eli said, unaware of her little vendetta with Grady. "I respected your work history," he added as he lead her back to the door. "Now, we'll talk again later, I promise. Jeremy had texted me earlier saying that he wanted to do another training session later on today."

"I'll go and get prepared," she said with a nod. She looked down at the files still in her hands. "Do you need this back?"

"No, I got copies, you keep it," he said with a smile and a pat to her back. "I'll see you later on," he promised as she stepped out, the door closing at his final goodbye.

Maria took a deep breath as she regarded the hallway in front of her. She collected herself, reigning in all of her emotions, and then made her way down to the diorama room. She had to admit, while being in the actual mansion itself was a bit uncomfortable, she really did enjoy looking at the dinosaur room. To see the different displays, to look at the fossils and the beginnings of InGen itself. Well, it was a special place to her.

As she entered the room, she gazed up at the triceratops skull in the middle of the room. It still took her breath away, just the sheer size of it alone was impressive. Ever since she was small, she'd always been interested in dinosaurs. She'd long to meet one in the flesh, even after watching the San Diego incident. Of course after her brother nearly died, she was deterred for a little bit. But after getting the call from Hoskins, it was a no brainer for her. She'd dreamed of working with dinosaurs, the species didn't matter.

There was a sudden rustle from the leaves on the other side of the room, causing Maria to look over with a frown. Was someone in here with her? She felt a small wave of panic hit, she hadn't met anyone aside from Iris the maid. What could she say if she did meet them? 'Hi, I'm living in your basement!'? Obviously not.

"Hello?" She called out hesitantly. Mills hadn't told her that someone was still in the mansion, he often didn't like to have her up here when Lockwood was still around. God, she really hoped that it wasn't him. She'd be in for it for sure.

The leaves rustled again, this time behind her causing her to spin around. In the back of her mind, despite all the facts saying it was impossible, she wondered if any compy's were in here. Those little bastards were notorious for messing with people like this. Anything for a chance to grab someone's food, or fingers.

"RAAR!" Came from behind her, causing her to jump with a shriek. Spinning, she saw a young girl around eleven standing there laughing as if she had just done the funniest thing in her entire life. She looked up at the woman, bright blue eyes sparkling. "I'm sorry," she said with an almost british sounding accent. It sounded fake, as if she had been taught to talk like that. "I just had to."

Maria, red faced with embarrassment, merely shook her head and smiled at the young girl. "You're okay," she said finally. "You're really good at hiding."

The girl practically beamed. "Thank you!" She paused suddenly, as if remembering that she didn't know this stranger. "Are you… a friend of Eli's?"

"Yes," Maria said as she smiled down at the girl. "I've been working with him for almost three years now," she added.

The girl relaxed. "Oh," she said before smiling up at her. "I'm Maisie, by the way!"

"It's very nice to meet you," Maria said holding out her hand for the girl to shake. "I'm Maria."

Maisie smiled up at her, before looking behind her as a door shut somewhere within the manor. "That must be Iris realizing I'm not in my room," she said, a hint of excitement in her voice. Maria had the sneaking suspicion that she enjoyed scaring Iris.

"Well, I'll be going," Maria told the girl with a small wave as she walked towards the elevator. "I'll see you again," she added as she called the elevator up. Maisie gave her a friendly wave goodbye, still waving as Maria entered the elevator and shut the doors.

Inside, she let out a sigh of relief as she waited for her sublevel floor to come. She'd have to tell Eli that she'd been seen, hopefully nothing would come from it. Iris already knew that she was employed by Mills, though for what Maria suspected that she was in the dark. Really, it was the thought of Maisie telling Lockwood that scared her. Would he come down here? Did he know what Mills was doing? She figured he must not have, there'd be no way he'd allow a dinosaur like Ripper to have been made inland. Even the first dinosaur they'd created was small and peaceful.

Stepping out of the elevator and onto the catwalk, Maria looked around at the familiar sight around her. She'd be lying if this place hadn't come to be her home, it's familiar walls and people gave her a sense of comfort. In a years time, however, that'd all change. She still wasn't sure how she was feeling about it all. Relief, excitement, nervousness… maybe Henry would be willing to talk to her about it. It wasn't like she could call Barry or Kelly about her situation… would her being on the island relieve her from secrecy?

As she entered the lab, Wu looked up from his computer, a frown on his face. "Maria?" He questioned as she walked over to him. "How can I help you?"

"Can we talk? In private?" She asked as she looked from the lab techs to him.

"Of course, shut the door," he said, adjusting himself in his chair as she shut the door firmly behind her. She pulled up the chair in front of his desk and sat herself down, chewing on her lip as she gathered her words. "Is something the matter?"

"No, yes, maybe," she said with a sigh. "Eli called me into his office to discuss something with me," she began, picking at her fingernails as she talked. "He said that he had bought and island, for me and Ripper," she looked up at him. "I don't know if I should trust it."

Wu leaned back in his chair as he thought that over. "You didn't ask for this," he stated, when she shook her head in confirmation, he nodded. "Mills might be doing this from the bottom of his heart," he allowed. "You've done an amazing thing, bonding with the Indoraptor the way you have. The likelihood of that happening again for you is low, and the thought of killing Ripper is completely out of the question, I wouldn't allow it and neither would you. So retiring you both to an remote island is likely the best choice."

She nodded. "So just accept it and don't look the gift horse in the mouth?" She said with a light attempt of humor.

"Exactly," Wu said.

Maria nodded and stood, a grateful smile on her face despite her nerves still being present. "Thank you," she said sincerely.

"Anytime," Wu said as he too stood. "You've listened to me in the past," he added.

Maria faltered, remembering that time. "I wish I hadn't have," she confessed softly. "My girls would still be here."

Wu's eyes dropped, and he nodded. "That's true," he admitted softly. He looked back up to her, a gleam in his eye that she couldn't quite place. Determination? Regret? "I've been working hard to make it up to you," he said.

Maria smiled softly, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder once. "You are, and you have. Ripper means the world to me," she said softly.

He nodded, but she could tell there was more he wanted to say. As her brows furrowed, he shook his head and smiled at her. "You should get back to him," he suggested. "He gets antsy now a days."

Maria nodded wordlessly and walked out of his office, giving him a wave as she went along her way. As she climbed down the spiral staircase, she pondered what Henry's expression meant. What did he know? Or was this about what Ripper was made out of?

Regardless, she had other matters to attend to. Like preparing herself and Ripper for an island, and getting the big drama king his food. She smiled as she walked into her home, hearing his wails for attention. Yeah, maybe she'd made a huge mistake in her past. But at least she was brought to this point in her life, with this big and deadly baby.

 **Next chapter is the final part of Arch 1, and it will lead us into Arch 2, aka Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.**

 **we've got a whole other arch after that**


	12. Reports On the Island

**I am so sorry about the long wait for this chapter! I don't even have an excuse, half of it's been written for weeks now... BUT here it is, so please do enjoy it.**

 _Eight years ago_

 _Maria felt her heart hammer in her chest as she looked up at the gates to Jurassic World, her fingers dancing against the strap of her bag. She was nervous, excited and even wary as the tram continued on. Today was her first time going to the park, and it was all for an interview with some man named Hoskins, though for what she wasn't entirely sure on._

" _Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Jurassic World," the intercom buzzed as the tram came to a stop._

 _She filed out with the other guests, her grip on her suitcase tight as she came down the escalator. She strode through the crowds, intent on going to her hotel first before the park. She was going to be here for three days, today and hopefully her last day would be dedicated to enjoying herself. She almost wished that she could have brought a friend with her, but that would be considered unprofessional since this wasn't a trip for fun, it was for work._

 _She worked fast, checking in and putting her stuff away. She called her family as she did so, her tone exasperated as they went around the same argument. She highly doubted that something would go wrong in the park, it's been over a year since the park had opened, and not one incident had occurred. There wasn't even raptors at the park! It was already way safer than the last one._

 _And then, she was free. She checked her makeup and touched up her foundation as she made herself look more presentable. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, and her clothes were changed out in favor for shorts and a tank top. She didn't need to look professional today, that could be tomorrow._

 _As she went out into the park, Maria felt overwhelmed by the number of attractions and stores that laid out in front of her. Which dinosaur should she look at first? Or should she go into the museum first? The flag in the middle of the road stopped her in her tracks._

" _Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur?"_

 _She did actually, all those years ago with her friend Kelly. She heard the roar off to her right, and a smile came onto her face. She'd heard that there were dinosaurs from the original park still walking around. She saw paddock nine, or otherwise known as the Tyrannosaur Paddock according to the sign by the entrance. She slowly ascended the steps, the roaring coming louder as she finally entered the room in what looked like a fake log._

 _She could hear the trainer talking through the intercom, and could see that he was outside in the paddock on a platform. He listed the facts about the tyrannosaurus, their average life span and recent discoveries in the world of paleontology. He added some facts about their current rex, answering any questions that people called out. Apparently she was indeed the same rex from the first park. She'd only killed one person that they know about, and her scars were indeed from the velociraptors from the original park._

 _There was a thud from outside, soft yet firm. Maria moved towards the front, looking through the glass as the trees rustled. And then, the massive head poked through, brown with vibrant greenish brown stripes coming down her back. The rex moved with grace and poise, barely acknowledging the log or her trainer as he cooed at her. A cage came up from the ground, a goat chained to it. The trainer threw a flare down by the goat, all the little kids pushing up against the glass to get a good look as the dinosaur rumbled after the flare._

 _Maria held a hand over her mouth, unable to tear her eyes away in morbid fascination. They actually let kids watch this? The youngest looked to be barely three years old! She gasped slightly when Rexy, blood dripping from her mouth, looked up at the log. Her eyes were smart, too smart almost, as she regarded the buzzing crowd. Finally, she gave her show the proper ending it deserved by gearing upwards and roaring at the glass with everything she had._

 _Some kids went running to their parents, others cheered wildly and begged for another. Some parents laughed nervously, while others consoled their children. And Maria?_

 _Maria just grinned widely back at the huffing dinosaur._

* * *

" _Do you remember the first time you saw a dinosaur_ " the pamphlet said.

She could remember, with great detail actually, as could any other person who'd gone to the park. But that wasn't what had her floored in the middle of Ripper's cage as Wu stared at her expectantly.

"The volcano is active?" She asked quietly as she looked back up at him.

Henry nodded, face grim. "Claire, Miss Dearing, made an organization to help protect the dinosaurs."

Maria nodded as she read on, the plea for funding didn't go unnoticed. She felt awful, Claire really went through the wringer when the lawsuits came in. "She wants them moved to another island?" She clarified. "Why not just move them to site B?"

"Because site B is also volcanic," Henry said with a sigh. "It's on borrowed time as well. To move the dinosaurs there, would just be counteractive."

Maria nodded as she took that in. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention," she said to her friend as she looked back up. "Are you going to help…"

Wu shook his head. "No, while some of my best work is on that island, I can't advocate for their relocation."

"Oh, don't tell me you've been listening to Malcolm," Maria huffed, though it was in good nature. She was well aware of Ian's feelings about the island and its inhabitants.

"He was right years ago, he could be right still," Wu said cryptically. "I'm proud of my work, don't get me wrong, but I cannot find it in myself to allow them to flourish when nature is saying otherwise."

Maria nodded. "Blue is still alive," she said as she looked down at the picture of said raptor. Claire had picked the right dinosaurs to show, Roberta, Blue and Delilah, even Peaches had a debut in the background.

"She is," Wu confirmed.

"I can't just sit back and let her die," Maria said shaking her head as she looked at him. "She was my baby too."

"I know," Wu said nodding towards the pamphlet. "That's why I gave it to you. Do what you feel is right, I know things will work out." He bowed his head in a silent goodbye, and walked back to his lab.

Maria watched him go for a second before turning and walking to the back of the cage with the pamphlet. She pulled out her phone and dialed Barry's number, shushing Ripper when he blew in her ear. "Hey, Bar," she said brightly.

"Maria," her friend said warmly through the phone. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Well… did you hear?" She asked softly.

"About the volcano?" He clarified, sighing when she uttered a soft yes. "Yeah, I did. It's a shame, I wish I could do something to help."

"Claire has an organization, at least she's going to. From what I understand, she needs funds," Maria said as she read the paper.

"Sadly, I don't have that," Barry said. "Otherwise I'd send something in." He was quiet for a moment, speaking up before she had a chance to. "Have you talked to Owen about this?"

"No," Maria said shaking her head. "If you could?"

"If you're worried that he hates you, I can assure you-"

"I'm not, no. I just…" she sighed. "Yeah, fine, okay? I'm worried that I ruined our friendship, and I'm scared to reach out."

Barry merely sighed. "He asks about you all the time, you know. Dude's been worried about you, the two of you were so close."

"Barry, I _blamed_ him."

"He doesn't hold a grudge against that."

Maria shook her head. "I just can't, not yet," she said helplessly.

"I'll talk to him," Barry said after a moment, his tone soothing. God did she love him, he was like the older brother she wished Billy had been. Calm and reassuring rather than sarcastic and protective; both Billy and Owen were too similar for her taste, it was why she preferred to be around Barry more.

"Thank you," she said gratefully. "I owe you one," she added more lightly.

"You owe me a few, but who's counting?" He teased back before saying his goodbyes and hanging up.

Ripper nudged her, intent on being praised for behaving, a purr emitting when she rubbed under his chin. "What am I going to do, huh?" She asked him softly as she looked at her baby boy. He'd gotten so big now, it was hard to still call him that.

Ripper merely looked at her then sniffed the paper, his crimson eyes going between her and the paper. He didn't seem to grasp what the problem was, couldn't understand the situation. She didn't blame him, he didn't know how to read or even what a volcano was. She didn't know how she could convey it to him, would he still not understand even if she did? He knew of death, but nothing on a mass scale like this.

Instead, she patted his cheek and smiled at him softly. "I'll be back out," she said to him before walking back inside for a bit more privacy. She looked at the pamphlet and spotted the phone number to dial, pulling out her cell and beginning to dial it.

"This is Dr. Rodriguez," a woman answered after a few rings.

"Hi, is this the Dinosaur Protection… group?"

"Yes," the woman had a slight edge to her voice.

"Oh, great. I was wondering if there's a limit for how much you can donate?"

"That depends, we normally take fifty dollars, but some people like to give five."

"You can take more than fifty, right? How much do you guys need?"

"Uh, well… I think we only need seven hundred to make it official," the woman said after a moment.

"Oh, excellent. I'll donate a thousand then, to keep you guys up and running," Maria said as she leaned against the wall, a soft smile when the doctor choked.

" _A thousand_?"

"Yes ma'am." She took out her credit card and waited as Dr. Rodriguez began typing on a computer.

"Okay, uh, card number and expiration date?" The typing resumed as Maria relayed the information. "And can I get your name, please? My boss is almost in tears."

Claire? In tears? Wow, she must have really changed. "She's met me before, but I'd like to stay anonymous if you don't mind." She paused, then spoke again. "If you could relay a message to her?"

"Of course."

"Ask her to keep my last baby alive," she whispered. Claire probably wouldn't know what that meant, the two of them weren't really close. They'd only talked once or twice, however, she knew that Claire was aware of her relationship regarding the raptors, and hoped that she'd connect the dots.

"Yeah, of course." Dr. Rodriguez said.

"Great! I'll call back in a month or so to donate again, you guys go save those dinosaurs." Maria said as she hung up, taking a deep breath as she fought to steady her nerves. She bit her lip as she thought about the island. The possibility of them finding another island that could support the dinosaurs was low, not too many out there that was remote.

Her gaze hit the manilla folder on her desk, the words Isla Matanceros gazing back. An idea struck, and she immediately began dialing.

"Hello?" Eli greeted.

"Are you busy?"

"Eh, looking over reports," she could hear his chair squeak as he leaned back. "Nothing I can't pull away from. Is there a problem? You don't ever do personal calls."

"You hear about the volcano becoming active on Isla Nublar?" She asked as she looked at the island papers.

"I did. It's unfortunate."

"Claire is making a petition to rehome them, only problem is that islands that are remote enough for dinosaurs is pretty damn low." She paused, and decided to just continue on. "I was thinking, what if they can get moved to Matanceros? I've worked with them before, and if we do it smart, they won't be a problem free ranged."

"That's a big gamble," Mills said as he sat back up. "You sure you want to risk your life like that? What if I can just get Blue, and she can live on the island with you."

She shook her head, "no. They all deserve to live out their lives," she said firmly. "We can set up a perimeter around my home, that way Ripper doesn't upset a balance, and they can't get to me. I just," she sighed heavily. "I want to help, and my influence is limited."

"You want me to propose this to Claire," Mills said. When she gave a yes of confirmation, he sighed. "I'm… not against it. I just need to spin it to Lockheart. He wants them safe too. My only obstacle would be making sure that he doesn't know about you."

She screwed her lips to the side. So Lockheart really doesn't know that she's living in his basement. Not that she was too surprised, she highly doubted she would have been here this long without the man coming by to see his new resident. "You can do it," she said in encouragement. "You got a way with words."

"Oh, I'm glad you think so," Mills said sounding amused. "I'll do it, but I can't guarantee anything right away," he warned.

"I understand, thank you," she said before hanging up. She looked at her phone, opening up her gallery and pulling up the pictures of her girls. She smiled softly as she scanned over the pictures of Charlie, Delta and Echo, missing them painfully. And stopped at the one with just Blue, from back when she was just a year old. She smiled softly as she felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. "Stay safe, baby girl," she whispered.

 _Stay safe._

 **Finally, we're officially into the Fallen Kingdom Ark of the story line! Next chapter will be the demise of the island, and possibly Owen? (** **Lord knows I keep teasing him in)** **But please! If you enjoyed this chapter, or any of the previous, or if you have any questions or comments don't hesitate to leave a review! They really keep me motivated to continue on with the stories i write, and seeing you guys theorize what I have planned always makes me smile.**


	13. Mills Plan Revealed

**SO sorry for the delay! Hope this makes up for it~**

 _Four years ago_

 _This wasn't happening, no way in hell was this actually happening. She was dreaming, this was all a nightmare. It had to be, because the reality was too awful to be true. Wu's creation, the very thing she encouraged him to continue after failed incubations… escaped. Not just escaped, but killed everything in her path, people and dinosaurs alike. And Charlie…_

 _A sob tore threw her as she collapsed into Barry's arms, clinging to him as he comforted her. Her baby was gone, nothing left of her to bury or hold onto. Barry didn't know how the other girls were doing, only that they ran off after the Indominus. Owen would know for sure, but right now she didn't want to see him._

 _She stayed with Barry throughout the night, the two of them holding hands as the roaring grew both closer and numerous. Someone either released Roberta, or she got tired of hearing the Indominus running rampant. The latter made more sense, who in their right mind would release Rexy of all dinosaurs? The fighting, and it was indeed fighting as they could all hear the sound of buildings being torn down, was long and terrifying when you had no idea who was winning. And then, suddenly, everything went quiet._

 _She wasn't ashamed to say that she jumped when the doors swung open, but felt a small relief when it was only Owen and Claire. Maria stood up with Barry, a smile on her face when she connected eyes with Owen. He flinched, ducking his head to the side to excuse himself from Claire and her nephews before coming over, face grim._

" _Good to see you made it out," Barry told him as they hugged briefly._

" _It was touch and go," Owen admitted as he turned to her, bringing her into a crushing hug. "I'm sorry," he said voice thick with emotion._

" _Barry told me about Charlie," she said as she looked up at him. "How are the others? Echo loved Charlie."_

 _Owen winced, his eyes going to the floor. "Dead," he choked. "Echo and Delta are, they," he looked up at her with wet eyes. "The Indominus killed them. She almost killed Blue too, I still don't really know how she got out of their alive."_

 _Dead. Echo, dead. Delta, dead._

 _Maria blinked at the wall, eyes going blurry as the words processed. Her breath caught in her throat, bile rising. She opened her mouth to say something, then shut it as Barry and Owen looked at her in concern._

" _Maria?" Owen reached out to her, hand dropping when she moved out of his way. "Maria-"_

" _It's your fault," she whispered as she moved from the wall to the floor. She felt numbness spread as the phrase repeated through her mind. It's your fault, your fault, your fault…. She looked up to Owen, eyes unfocused. "It's your fault!"_

 _Owen took a step back as Barry placed a hand on her arm. She shook it off, pointing a finger at him. "You let Vic take them out! They could have still been alive if you just kept them in their enclosure!"_

" _I didn't have a choice-"_

" _I don't care!" She took a step back, shaking her head as she looked away. "Stay away from me Owen." With that, she turned and walked off, head ducked as she weaved through the crowd. She found a small corner where she sat, and curled up into herself. She wanted nothing more than to disappear, to turn back time when everything was fine. When her girls were still alive…_

* * *

 _She didn't notice at first when the boats arrived, only that the sound of her name being called snapped her out of her mind. She jerked her head up, muscles complaining as she stood. She must have been curled up for hours. Billy…._

" _Billy!" She called, voice hoarse as she weaved through the crowd. Was her mom and dad here as well? "Mom, Dad!"_

" _Maria!" Her mother called, the two of them catching sight of one another. Maria watched as her mother sprinted through the benches, tears streaming down her face as she engulfed her in a hug. "Oh my baby," she sobbed as she stroked her hair. She pulled back and scanned her for any injuries. "Are you okay?"_

" _I only got swooped at," Maria said in a dull voice._

 _Her mother frowned. 'What happened?"_

 _Before Maria could answer, the rest of her family ran up, her little brother Chase hugging her legs with everything he had. She knelt down, hugging him properly before pulling back to smile at him tearfully. "I'm okay," she said as she signed to him. "Not hurt at all."_

 _He sagged in relief. "Dinos?" he signed._

 _Her heart fell. "Dead," she signed back, voice choking as she relayed it verbally._

" _Oh, Maria," Billy said mournfully._

" _I'm sorry, kiddo," her father said shaking his head._

 _So am I, she thought as she looked up from Chase's head to see Owen watching from afar. It wasn't Owen's fault, it was hers for not being there with her girls through it all…_

* * *

She slumped against the wall of her home, eyes unfocused as she looked at her bedroom door. She could hear Ripper chuffing already, expecting her to come in and greet him, and as much as she wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to move from this wall. Exhaustion filled her, the traveling from California to Washington and back finally catching up with her. With a heavy heart, she finally accepted the truth.

The government sided with Ian, and chose to let the island blow up. To have nature take back what Wu did, to let the dinosaurs go extinct again. To let Blue die. That itself was bad enough. But when the news hit on the plane ride back that the island had been destroyed, well that broke her. She had tried not to think too much about it, choosing to believe that Blue had died before hand. The probability of a raptor surviving on its own was low to begin with, that it was an easier thought than the image of her desperately running away from the ash and debris.

Maria shook her head, taking in a deep breath. There wasn't anything she could do now, she would mourn, but she wasn't alone this time. She glanced up when Ripper let out another chuff, more impatiently this time. She wasn't alone at all.

She lifted herself up from the wall and came into her bedroom, smiling softly as the big hybrid had his head fully through the window and was working his way on getting his neck through. "Oh, you big baby," she cooed as she drew near, smiling a bit more as his purr sounded. "You'll get stuck. Then what will the guards think? Big, mean, vicious dinosaur like you? Getting stuck in a window? How scandalous."

Ripper merely huffed, coming close as she came into the cage. "I know," she said softly as she cradled his head, rubbing her thumb against the golden streak on his cheek. "I had to fly out," she told him. "It didn't do much good, but I had to try."

Ripper's red eyes looked up at her as she looked down at him with somber eyes. "Blue's dead, all the dinosaurs are dead," she whispered as she sniffled. Ripper whined as he lifted his head, wrapping his long arms around her and drawing her close. He picked her up and moved the both of them into the corner, laying down and curling around her. She rested against his side, laying her head against the crook of his neck, and sighed. She was so tired.

A roar woke her up, a familiar roar that caused her to sit up in alarm at the closeness of it. Was the ghost of Roberta haunting her? She looked around, brows furrowed as Ripper raised his head to look for the cause. His muscles were tense as he shifted into a crouch, keeping her behind him as his red eyes scanned for enemies. Maria stood, laying a hand on his shoulder as she moved to his side.

"I'll be back," she told him as she moved towards her door, halting when he darted in front of her. "Ripper, move, I'll be back," she said as she moved to the side to get around him. Ripper remained firm, red eyes darting between her and the corridor. "I'll be fine," she said soothingly as she inched forward. "Nothing is going to hurt me, or you."

Ripper paused, and looked up at her. His red eyes showing the war within himself before he finally bowed his head and moved to the side. She pressed a kiss to the top of his head, and went into her room. She grabbed her phone and made her way out of her home, nodding to Ripper as she walked down the hallway. She kept her pace slow as she rounded the corner, staying to the shadows.

She could hear the roaring grow louder, other dinosaurs joining the song. This was no ghost, there were actual dinosaurs down here with them. Did Mills somehow get them off of the island? Why didn't he tell her?

She ducked down behind some crates, by the cage with the triceratops and her baby. She peered over the edge, breath catching at the sight of Mills standing in front of a cage, a man holding a gun at his side. And inside… Owen and Claire.

"Hi, Claire," Mills said, his voice soft. "I just wanted to come and apologize. I didn't want to bring you into any of this, but it was the only way we could get, we could get the raptor!" He lunged back as Claire took off towards him, reaching the gates and reaching for him. Owen quickly came and pulled her back. "And we needed it."

"So, uh, this is it?" Owen asked, looking thoroughly unimpressed. "I mean, you're a smart guy. You could have started a foundation, cured cancer. And instead…. What? Sell endangered species?" Maria froze, glancing back at the mother and the baby beside her. He was going to _sell_ them?

"I saved these animals," Mills said in response.

"You betrayed a dying man for money," Claire huffed.

"Claire, I admire your idealism, but we both know we exploited these animals. At least I have the integrity to admit it," Mills said as he paced a bit in front of the door.

"I never, ever, did anything-"

"You authorized the creation of the Indominus Rex," he cut her off, the name echoing through the room. "You exploited a living thing, in a cage, for money. How is that different? Huh? And you," he turned to Owen. "The man who proved raptors could be trained to follow orders. You never thought about the applications of your research? How many millions a trained predator might be worth?" He stepped closer to the cage, placing his hands on the bars. "You two, are the parents of the new world."

Owen blinked, and casually grabbed Mills arm, pulling it into the cage and twisting it backwards.

"Hey, let him go," the man with the gun said as he pointed it at Owen's head.

'Owen," Claire said as she drew near.

"I think I'll break it," Owen mused.

"Let him go," the gunman said evenly.

Owen released his hold, and watched in amusement as Claire immediately slammed Mills face against the bars. "Say, how are we going to end this?" The gunman said as Mills straightened himself out.

"Well, as far as the everyone else is concerned, they burned up on the island," Eli said evenly. He gave the two a look before walking off, the gunman at his side.

Maria took a shuddering breath and peered back up behind the crates, watching as Eli rounded the corner and disappeared. "Owen," she whispered as loudly as she could at the risk of the two not being out of earshot yet. "Owen!"

Owen turned, eyes narrowed as he searched for the who made the noise, his eyes going wide when he saw her behind the crates. "Maria?"

She glanced to the side and quickly darted out, running towards the gate. She reached the two of them, and looked them over. "Are you two okay?"

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked as she drew close, brushing against Owen as he stared at Maria with wide eyes.

"I," she took a deep breath and shook her head. "I work for Mills," she admitted. "But I didn't know about any of this! Only my charge."

"Your new job," Owen breathed. "Barry said it was something top secret."

"I'm training a hybrid dinosaur," she said to him. "He's not fit for anything the military could use, and they're not close to engineering a new one." She looked at Owen. "I'm so sorry," she said as she blinked away some tears. 'I had no idea about any of this, and, and for I'm sorry for what I said to you before."

Owen placed a hand on her shoulder, a half smile on his face as she looked up at him. "Nothing to be sorry for, I forgave you a long time ago," he said sincerely. "As for this, I know you. You wouldn't knowingly sign up for something like this."

"I'm more worried about this hybrid," Claire cut in. "How dangerous is it?"

"He. And very, to everyone but me," Maria answered. "He imprinted on me, sees me as both alpha and a mother. But he's contained, he's in his cage. Won't go out without me there," she said as she looked at the both of them.

"Can you get us out?" Owen asked after he processed her words.

She stepped back and inspected the door, shaking her head after a moment. "It needs a key, which I'm sure Mills is carrying," she said. "Maybe I could find something-" a loud clang interrupted her. She glanced over at the cage besides them, and smiled. "Stiggy!" She cooed, then glanced at them. "Whistle, she can bust through the wall and hopefully the door."

"You're a genius," Owen said as he jumped and grasped onto the ledge that connected the two cages. He began to whistle, jolting as the brick wall began to take damage. Maria took a step back as she took in the dinosaurs around her. She could spot Strawberry and Peaches pressed up against each other, the two seeking comfort. Carrie the carnotaurus was laying on her side, glaring at the world around her. Roberta was around the corner, still roaring every now and then to let them know that she was awake, and pissed.

"You're the one who sent those donations" Claire said to Maria as the wall began to break down.

Maria gave her a smile. "I couldn't just sit back and watch," she said. "I even flew out to Washington to ask Ian Malcolm to reconsider and vote to save the dinosaurs. Not that it helped, he's pretty against them."

Claire smiled and jumped when the wall broke down. Owen went to the door, whistling again as Stiggy shook her head. It may have been solid bone, but hitting bricks repeatedly had to take a toll somehow. At the whistle, she gave a bleat and charged, Owen barley jumping out of the way as she broke through the gate and hit the steel beam. She whined and shook her head again, before running off.

"Good job," Maria said, smiling at the two of them when they exited the cage. "Let's go before anything else can happen-"

A loud, rasping roar echoed through the hallways, reaching them and stopping Maria's heart. It was a angry, panicked roar. _Ripper's roar._ She turned, eyes wide as she looked in the direction where he was, blood going cold at the thought of him in danger. "Ripper,' she breathed.

"Maria?" Owen's voice sounded drowned out as instinct took over. "Maria!"

She could feel him reaching for her as she began to take off, could hear him and Claire give chase. But all she could think about was Ripper, in danger. And knew that Mills was the one behind it, as he always was. Her fear solidified into anger, there was going to be hell to pay.

 **So, work has been hell and I just haven't had the energy to write anything for these past few weeks. But due to the recent activity that this story had gotten, I managed to drag myself from the void to give you this. (I also had to delete a draft because it was really just going to drag this story out).**

 **But, thank you for everyone who has stuck with my horrible uploading schedule! I promise one day I'll get my act together and upload regularly. Not anytime soon, but one day, hopefully.**


	14. Hell Hath No Fury

**I'm spoiling y'all now.**

Owen raced after Maria, heart thumping as the roars drew distant. He didn't know fully what she had gotten herself wrapped up in, but he knew one thing. He wasn't going to let her face this alone. Claire raced at his side, the two of them rounding corners blindly before coming to a halt at a crossroads. Owen cursed, fists clenching. Maria was gone.

Claire looked behind them, placing a hand on his shoulder prompting him to turn around. A small girl, no older than eleven, stood a few feet behind them ridgid with fear. Without a word, she turned and ran down a dark hallway. "Hey, wait!" Claire called as her and Owen went after the young child. "Please wait!"

The two stopped as they saw the girl in an dumbwaiter chute, tears streaming down her face as she struggled to catch her breath. She was traumatized, and Owen would place money on it that Mills was behind it. He glanced over when Claire looked at him, "that's Lockwoods granddaughter," she informed him.

"Hey, hey kid," Owen said as he inched forward, keeping his tone and stanced relaxed. "You wanna come down out of there?" The girl shook her head.

"Do you remember me?" Claire asked her now, smiling when the girl nodded. "My name is Claire, what's your name?"

"Maisie," the child responded after a moment, voice raw from crying. "Maise Lockwood," Owen could hear a faint british accent at the adition.

"Hi, Maisie," Claire smiled comfortingly at the child, thankful that she spent more time around kids after the park closed. "Well, this is my friend, Owen."

"I saw you, with the velociraptors, and Blue," Maisie said to him.

"Oh, yeah?" Owen glanced over at Claire. "You like dinosaurs?"

Maisie nodded. "You were in Maria's videos too, with the new dinosaur," she added, fear lacing back into her tone.

Owen stored that bit away, choosing to lock onto the little things. "I like dinosaurs too," he said. "Tell you what, you come down from there, and I'll tell you everything I know about Blue," he bargained. The two of them watched as she slowly climbed out of the chute, hands against her side as she slowly made her way over to them.

Claire bent over, "sweetie, we need some help finding your grandfather," she said gently. "Can you take us to him?"

Maisie shook her head, fresh tears spilling as she whined, "no."

"You mean you're down here all by yourself?" Owen asked. "Brave kid. Looks like you could use a friend."

Maisie ran to him, wrapping her arms around his middle. "He's gone," she sobbed.

Owen rubbed her shoulder for a minute before pulling away, keeping his hands on his shoulder as he knelt down. "So, listen, I'll tell you what. We were just about to go and find our friend and get the heck out of here, you wanna come with us?"

"We could use a friend, too," Claire added.

Maisie looked between the two of them, and nodded. She took Claire's hand and lead them down the hallway, towards a door. "We have secret passages," she explained. "They lead to ventilation shafts. We can take those to find your friends."

Owen nodded and opened the door, shutting it behind them as they went along. "You know Maria?" He asked after a moment of walking.

Maisie paused. "I, I met her once, a few weeks ago. She was nice, even after I scared her," she looked up at him. "She works for Eli."

Owen knew why the kid was hesitant. "I used to work with her," he told the girl. "We were good friends, she helped us escape before we found you. She was in the dark on this whole thing."

"But not about _it_ ," Maisie stressed. "The indo, indoraptor. She's been training it, I saw her videos on the matter."

Indoraptor, Owen furrowed his brows. That certainly was a hybrid name, but Maria was no liar. She told them she was training a hybrid, even admitted that he was dangerous. "Maria isn't one to do something with evil intentions. Whatever Mills told her, it must have made sense." He wasn't going to believe that Maria went into this without thinking it through.

The three of them paused as they heard the sounds of people talking below. Owen went closer to the vents, peering down into an auction room. A baryonyx was being transported back with a roar, a new sum of money being flashed on the screen. A wave of nausea hit him, they really were selling these dinosaurs.

"And now, that we are halfway through the evening," the auctioneer said as he caught the audience's attention. "We'd like to offer a special treat to our…discriminating buyers. This evening, we will preview a new asset that we've been developing. A creature of the future, made from pieces of the past. Ladies and gentlemen, please be warned. This is the perfect blend of the two more fearsome creatures to ever walk this earth," Owen could hear the raspy growl all the way from up in the passage. "We call it, the Indoraptor."

The doors opened, revealing a jet black dinosaur roaring at the audience as he was wheeled inside. A brilliant golden stripe contrasted against his scales. He roared out in pain as the guards nearby shocked him with a prod, the electricity glowing and casting his shadow against the walls. The audience let out shocked gasps and screams as he roared, and it wasn't for show. This was a fearsome creature indeed.

"The perfect weapon," the auctioneer said. "Built for combat, with tactical responses more acute than any human soldier." Owen felt his blood turn to ice. _This_ is what Maria was raising? Training?

"What is that thing?" Claire asked.

"They made it. Mills and that other man," Maisie answered.

"What man?"

Maisie pointed down at the front row, just as the auctioneer continued. "Designed by Mr. Henry Wu. With the intelligence comparable to a velociraptor. Biospecs include: heightened sense of smell, and trained to respond to a pulse coded, laser targeting system. Enabling it to isolate and track prey in complex environments. Voila!"

A man to the side of the room raised a gun, a laser dot showing on a mans chest on the other side. The victim looked up fearfully as the indoraptor trained his sights onto him, red eyes glaring down.

"Now, first, the laser sets the target," the auctioneer explained. "Once locked on, the acoustic signal triggers the attack." The man with the gun hit a button on the side, and the indoraptor leapt towards the man, hitting the bars and snapping his teeth. "This animal is relentless. Now, modifications are still being made-"

"Twenty million!" A man from the audience called out.

"No, thi, this is a prototype," the auctioneer said nervously. "Not for sale."

"Twenty one," a man in the back said.

"Well, it is still a prototype," the man tried again.

"Twenty two!"

"Twenty three!"

The auctioneer glanced over to Mills. "Twenty four million on the table," he said after getting the okay.

Owen sucked in a deep breath, before getting the wind knocked out of him when all hell broke loose down in the galley. The phrase, hell hath no fury came to mind as Maria stormed into the room looking like she was going to shoot up the place.

* * *

" _Eli Mills_!" Maria called as she entered the room, hair flying back as she stormed towards the man. He stood, eyes wide as he made a move to pacify her, only to get punched in the nose. He flew backwards, clutching his bleeding nose as he looked up at her. "What the hell is going on?" She reached down, clutching his suit and shaking off the guards that came to her. "Get the hell off of me!"

"You were supposed to be in Washington," Eli huffed as she was pried off of him.

"I left early," she sneered. "You're _selling_ dinosaurs! You're selling _Ripper_!"

He glared at her as he removed his hand, blood trailing down his face. "I forgot, you two are a packaged deal." He looked to the auctioneer and nodded. "She's his trainer, the only person he'll spare. Sell that how you wish."

" _Sell_?!"

"Before we continue on, we have an adition! This here, is the trainer," the man at the gavel said as the guards spun her around. "The only person who can get up close to this beast." Maria felt her heart skip as she faced down the crowd, and felt it stop completely when the bids kept rolling on.

"Twenty seven million!"

"Twenty eight!"

"Thirty million!" A russian voice called out.

"Going once, twice, sold! To our russian friends," the auctioneer said cheerfully as he slammed the gavel down.

"No!" Maria screamed as she tried to escape the guards grasp. She saw Ripper look over sharply, red eyes gleaming with hatred at the men holding her. "Let me go! You can't do this!" She screamed back at Mills.

"I did," the man said simply. "I don't know why you're complaining, the two of you are going to be together now." She stared at him, eyes wide as he nodded to the men holding her. "Go get her cleaned up and ready to go."

" _NO_!" Her shrill scream echoed in the room, shortly followed by Ripper's enraged roar. A scream of pain escaped her as the guard on her right twisted her arm behind her as she was pushed towards the back room. "I'm going to _kill_ you," she hissed to Eli as she passed him. "You're going to pay for this, Eli!" She screamed back as she was forced out of the room.

'Wait for me, I'd like to say goodbye," Mills called out before the doors closed.

Oh, he'd get a goodbye. She was going to punch his teeth in as soon as she got her hand free. The guards stopped in the hallway, keep a hand on her shoulders to keep her from running. Her head jerked to the side when she heard her name being called, and relaxed slightly when she saw Wu coming towards her.

"Henry, help me," she whispered as he drew near, wrapping her into a hug. "Henry, he sold me and Ripper."

"I know, I can't help you," he said mournfully as he pulled back. He pressed a small flash drive in her hand, holding it tightly for a moment. "You'll be fine, I have a feeling that it's going to be okay," he whispered. He nodded to her hand before letting it go. "Look at that when you're out of here, and I pray to god that you'll forgive me."

"Forgive you?" Her brow furrowed. "Look, I know you can't do anything against these idiots," she said jerking her head back to the men behind her.

Henry shook his head. "Not for that," he said softly. He nodded to her hand as he stepped back. "For that," he said. He nodded to her, "I hope to see you again one day," he said before walking off towards the labs, head bowed.

Maria watched him go, and pocketed the flashdrive. The guards grabbed her again when a loud commotion sounded from the room behind them. The sounds of screams and chairs being thrown sounded, a gunshot and Ripper roaring. Did he get out somehow?

Mills burst through the door, grabbing her arm as he dragged her down the hallway. "What the hell were you thinking?" He hissed to her. "All you had to do was keep quiet, to not be here!"

"Oh, so this is my fault?" She exclaimed. "I'm not the one who decided to start selling endangered species!"

Eli huffed, shaking his head. "Don't act like you didn't know it would come to this. This is about money, what good are those animals if they're just on an island?"

"Living! That's what good they are!" She wrenched her arm away from him, rounding on him and pointed a finger against his chest. "You condemned them to a fate worse than death!"

"They're alive," he said unaffected. "Which if you keep your cool, you will be too," he added with narrowed eyes.

Maria huffed, taking a step back as they reached the basement. "I'm not scared of you, Eli. You're a coward, someone who sends other people to do your dirty work."

The man drew himself up, blue eyes hard as he stared back at her. She didn't see the slap coming, only felt it as her head jerked to the side. Before she could react, his hand was in her hair, jerking her head back as he drew near. "I've had it with you. I've been nice, I've been lenient. But you and that damned creature better count your lucky stars that I decided to sell you rather than kill you both and save myself the trouble. I can, and will, make a new indoraptor. You were expendable, you always were."

"No, she's not," Owens voice sounded from behind them. Eli kept a tight grip on her shoulder, spinning the both of them around as he stared down Owen. "Let her go," Owen warned, voice tight in anger as he noticed the red mark on her cheek.

"Give me Maisie first," Eli said. The two of them watched as Claire and Owen drew closer to the child. "Oooh, so you're going to take care of her now?" Eli asked, his words crawling up Maria's spine. "You two have no idea what she is. What do you think drove Lockwood and Hammond apart? Huh? Lockwood never had a grandchild. He just wanted his child back. And he had the technology, he created another. He made her again."

Maria felt her eyes widened as she looked at Maisie, no one should ever had to find that out, especially like this. "Maisie, that doesn't change you," she said, wincing when Eli tightened his grip on her. "Don't give her to him, Owen. I'll be fine."

"I won't say it again, give me Maisie," Eli said lowly, fingers digging into her skin.

Before Owen could say a word, the two guards in front of them were snatched by a blur of black and gold. The two screamed in agony as they were hustled into the darkness of the hallway behind them, the sounds of flesh being torn and bones being broken sounded. Eli, out of shock, released Maria. Without hesitation, she sprinted over to Owen, grabbing his outstretched hand and following him, Claire and Maisie into a servants corridor. She leaned against the wall, panting as Owen blocked the door and dragged her along.

Ripper was out.

 **Just wanna say, I'm really glad y'all are enjoying this. Next chapter, I'm diverging from canon and will go back to free writing this story. Which I have some unique ideas for it that hopefully you all will enjoy.**

 **Next chapter will also have Blue, which, for those who are begging for her and Ripper to get together, I am** ** _debating_** **it. But it won't be for some time. I like realism in my stories, and a sheltered dinosaur isn't going to be fit for contact with any other species right off the bat. Maybe during arch 3 of this story, we can explore that.**


	15. Taming of the Ripper

Ripper was loose, and on a rampage. Tearing through the house, looking for her no doubt and killing everyone in his way. Worry raced through her, worry for him, worry for how she was going to protect Owen, Claire and Maisie from him when they inevitably collide. She kept her grip on Maisie tight, keeping the girl close to her side as they made their way up to the main floor. She didn't want the girl to get in Ripper's sights, already fearing that Maisie already had an encounter with the hybrid prior to these current events.

"What are we going to do if it's up there?" Claire whispered as they crouched behind the door that lead to the diorama room.

"You guys run, I can distract him," Maria said firmly.

"No, we all go together," Owen said, shutting down her decision.

"Owen, I appreciate the concern, and I'm glad that you're able to jump back into our old friendship, but trust me. I'm in no danger with Ripper. But you guys are, so if he's out there, run. I can keep him at bay." Owen didn't look thrilled about it, but kept his mouth shut, opting to peek out into the dark room.

"Follow me," he whispered as he slowly opened the door, holding it open for the rest of them as they slowly walked out. He took lead, hands out in an attempt to shield her and Claire as they kept Maisie between them.

It was quiet, the air tense as they slowly made their way to the middle. The giant triceratops skull faced away from them, its shadow casting forward onto the dead body of a security guard. Owen paused, prompting the three of them to crouch down slightly. For a tense few seconds, they looked at the body like it was going to jump out at them. In one breath it was just lying there, in the next it was snatched to the side.

The four of them scuttled to the podium, back against the wood as they got low. Heart thumping, blood racing. Ripper was just on the other side, and she had no idea how he was going to react. She'd seen him enraged, acquired a rather nasty scar out of it. But that was in a controlled environment. He was free ranged, fulfilling his thirst for blood. He'd probably stop if he saw her, but who's to say if he'd listen to her telling him that Owen and the others were friends. That's where her confidence wavered heavily.

They slowly moved along the podiums base, listening to the click of Ripper's claws against the floors. Every now and then, she'd hear the sickle claw tap and had to resist the urge to tap back. He was looking for her, using the very taps that they used back when he was young and liked to play hide and seek. It was almost heartwarming to her, knowing that he was using the same technique. But what was heartwarming for her, was likely terrifying for the rest of them.

The sound of a large dinosaur climbing gave them pause, claws scrapped against wood and bone, a low growl coming from above them. With a shock, Maria realized Ripper was climbing onto the triceratops skull. He would see them. Her and Owen exchanged a look before slowly turning their gaze upwards just as Ripper looked down.

"RUN!" Owen screamed as he grabbed Maisie and Claire, shoving them up ahead of them as Maria ran next to him. Ripper let out a roar and jumped to the ground, limbs flailing for a minute. Someone tranqed him, she realized. Two darts, enough to make him uncoordinated, but not enough to be knocked down. They hit the spiral staircase just as he regained mobility and charged, slamming into the metal bars and snapping his teeth at Claire.

"Keep running!" Maria ordered as she shoved the other woman up the stairwell. As they reached the top, they spotted Maisie and Owen waiting for them by a trap door. Claire slid in without a problem, but Owen narrowed his eyes as Maria. "Ripper-"

He grabbed her hand and dragged her into the small side room, shutting the trapped door just as Ripper jumped onto the landing. The four of them stood in silence, listening as Ripper let out caws. At each unanswered one, his tone drew more desperate, his sickle claws tapping frequently against the floors.

"I need to go out there," she whispered to Owen.

"It's too dangerous!" He hissed.

"I will be _fine_ ," she insisted, looking over when she heard the heavy thump of Ripper landing on the ground floor. "I can stop him from killing anyone else."

"And if he kills you?" Owen demanded.

"If he kills me, then you were right," she said simply. "But I've known him for three years, I've raised him since he hatched. He slept on my bed, he is just as much as my "child" as Charlie was. I'm his alpha, his matriarch, his mother," her breath shuddered. "He needs me, and I need him. Let me out, Owen."

Owen paused, eyes downcast as he remembered Charlie. "I, alright," he looked up to her, eyes set and determined. "If he kills you, I'm going to make sure he doesn't last the night," he warned. His stance wavered, and he took a step back. "But, I trust you. You never make the wrong decision."

"Oh, I've made several, and they're all biting me in the ass," she said lightly. "I'm just putting a bet that this particular one won't." She gave him a smile as she approached the ladder. "I'll be fine, you take care of Claire and Maisie," she said as she nodded to the two behind him.

She ascended the ladder, and opened the trap door slightly. Ripper wasn't anywhere to be seen, but he was on the ground floor for sure. He was too heavy to not hear if he jumped back up. Slowly she exited the trap door, and closed it behind her. She walked a few feet away, hands clasped. It was quiet. "Ripper?" She called.

A caw sounded from below, a streak of gold flashing in her peripherals. "Hey, baby," she cooed as she drew near. "I'm okay," she added when Ripper stopped by the stairwell. "I'm coming down to you, okay?"

A hand knock, _yes_. She smiled slightly as she walked carefully down, avoiding the mangled metal the best she could. He remembered the sign language. She paused as she neared the halfway point, the steps were too crushed to get through. She looked at the large gap by the bars, she could get through that but it'd be a leap of faith down. Shakily, she grabbed the bars and climbed out, legs dangling as she tried to find solid ground without dropping. She almost screamed when Ripper's hands wrapped around her waist and lead her to the ground, not out of fear of course. She was more surprised than anything else, if he was going to kill her, he would have already done it.

She turned and looked up at the giant, smiling softly when he bowed his head and shoved his snout against her neck. Her arms came up and wrapped around his head, pressing a kiss by his feathers. "I'm okay," she whispered.

Ripper groaned, wrapping his arms around her the best he could. His body shuddered twice before he stepped away, looking like he wasn't scared at all. But she knew, this was all new territory for him. "Let's walk," she suggested lightly. She didn't want to just toss him back in the cage, especially now that he's seen the rest of the house. But the basement by far was the better location for him. At least until she got him to Isla Matanceros.

Maria paused when he stopped to sniff at the triceratops skull, his curiosity now taking hold now that she was with him again. "Do you want to look around the room?" She asked him softly, smiling wildly when he knocked several times in the air. A very enthusiastic yes. "Let's walk around then," she said as she lead him around. She spotted Owen peering out at them from one of the exhibits, and shook her head at him. The fool was going to get himself killed if Ripper saw him.

Ripper peered at the exhibits, head cocked to the side as she let him roam. She followed shortly behind him, smiling fondly as he inspected each new thing he came across. He had the capability to be kind, the option to be peaceful. She was confident that somewhere in the future, he'd be able to function like a normal dinosaur. Be around people without going into a full rage. He just needed to opportunity to bloom, to expand his experiences.

She took a step to follow him once more, and pain exploded on her right thigh. She went down with a scream, hands holding her bloody leg as she searched widely for the source. There, on the far edge of the room, was one of the russian men holding a gun. Her heart leapt to her throat as Ripper's arms and legs caged above her, a loud roar escaping as he glared daggers at the man. Her hands shook as she crawled backwards, keeping her body as covered as she could get.

"Ripper," she panted, "sic 'em."

Ripper leapt forward with a monsterous growl, running at the man with everything he had. She closed her eyes as the man began to scream, she could hear the sounds of his body being torn apart. She laid out on the ground, head light as she struggled to keep herself from panicking. It was on the outside of the leg, her femoral artery couldn't have been nicked. There was blood, yes, and she'd have to see a doctor soon. But not yet, not until Ripper was placed somewhere secured.

Maria cracked open an eye when she heard Ripper coming back. His snout sniffed her gently blowing her hair out of her face. She grunted when he picked her up, her legs dangling as he began to walk further into the house. She didn't know where he was taking her, but she was too tired suddenly to really care.

* * *

Maria awoke to Ripper cawing loudly in her ear. She grunted as she tilted her head away, groaning as she sat up and cracked her back. Her leg still twinged in pain, but she could tell that the gunshot had clotted up already. Which hopefully also meant that it was a clean through and through, no need to go digging around.

She leaned back against Ripper's side, glancing over at him as he looked around the small corridor he had taken her to. "So, what's the plan?" She asked him. "We just gonna sit here?"

Ripper groaned and glanced over at her, snorted, then looked back. Maria snickered quietly as she readjusted herself, wincing when her leg moved. Ripper's head tucked under her arm as she settled back down. She patted his cheek tiredly, leaning back again to just sit in silence.

A raptor caw came, sharp and familiar. Both Maria and Ripper sat up, Ripper ready to, well, rip, and Maria wide eyed as she realized who just cawed. She struggled to her feet, shaking off Ripper's frantic hands coming towards her. She took a step, almost talking herself out of it. There was no way in hell she was actually here, no way she survived!

And then, as suddenly as the caw came, she was there. Blue. Her precious Blue. Maria let out a shaking laugh, tears coming to her eyes as the two made eye contact. Blue cocked her head and gave a small chirp, a chirp she always gave her when she'd see her.

"Oh, Blue," Maria said softly as she took a cautious step forward.

Ripper stood with a growl, coming forward when Blue took a step towards Maria. "Ripper, no!" She said as Blue screeched in anger, three years and she still didn't like challenges. "Ripper, stand down!" Maria ordered sharply. Ripper turned to her and hissed, eyes shooting between her and Blue. "She won't hurt me, we have history."

"Blue!" Owen called as he stumbled into the room, immediately freezing when Ripper let out a roar.

"Ripper, _down_ ," Maria growled, the young dinosaur immediately dropping to the ground at her tone. It wasn't one she used often, just when she was tired of him pushing her to her limit. It made him listen and obey, even if he didn't want to. "You will not hurt either of them, do you understand?" A knock and a flex of his finger upwards, _yes I understand_.

"Was that sign language?" Owen asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I'll explain everything later," Maria said. "First, we need to get him back down to the basement, and Blue should probably be caged too. Are the dinosaurs still down there?"

"Yeah, we found Stiggy too," Owen answered as he whistled to Blue sharply. "I'll get Blue down there, you focus on Ripper." He paused and watched as you quietly ordered Ripper to stick to your side. "I'm sorry," he said softly, "you knew what you were doing, and I doubted you."

"At least you admitted and apologized," Maria said with a smile. "We'll talk once these two miscreants are in their rooms," she said as she patted Ripper's neck. "Let's go, big boy," she cooed as brushed past Owen who distracted Blue.

As they entered the elevator, she finally let out a relieved breath. "I'm going to have to put you back in your cage for a moment," she told him as they descended. "Once we get everything in order, I'll let you explore down in the basement," she added.

Ripper nodded as he yawned. He must be tired beyond belief, getting sold, having a field day killing people. It was probably his best day ever, she thought with a smile as he exited the elevator, tail brushing against the ground as sleep began to take him. She paused in the corridor that lead to their home. Her hand went into her pocket, taking out the flash drive Wu had given her.

What was he hiding?

 **ooooh, I literally cannot wait for y'all to read the next chapter. I've been keeping this a secret for sooo long.**


	16. What Makes Ripper

**:)**

Maria sat in front of her computer, mouse hovering over the file that had downloaded. She was hesitant to click it, even with Owen and Claire in the room with her. Maisie was sleeping on the couch, too afraid to sleep in Maria's room. Not that Maria blamed her, she didn't want the child in there alone either. With a sigh, she clicked onto the file, and leaned back in her chair hands crossed across her lap.

"I have no idea what's in here," Maria said.

"Knowing Wu, it could be anything," Claire said as she shifted in her seat beside Maria. The woman glanced over at Owen and then to Maria. "I'm going to check on the dinosaurs, make sure they're all doing okay."

"Check on the kids, see if Franklin managed to track down those dinosaurs that got sold," Owen said as Claire stood.

"I'm still waiting on the shipping company that Mills used," Maria added. "But if he could wire that thirty million that was paid for Ripper and I to me, it'd help a whole lot." She'd be damned if that money was just going to sit in Mill's bank account, it was hers. "Also, where is he?"

"I think he's still here somewhere," Claire mused. "I poked my head outside, his vehicle is still here."

"So he's probably hiding in his office," Maria huffed. "That's fine, I'll pay him a visit later." Claire nodded and walked out, leaving the door slightly ajar.

"Don't kill him," Owen warned, his heart not really in it. She saw his face when he caught up with her and Mills, he was going to kill that man himself.

"What? Me? I would _never_ ," Maria said as she placed a hand over her heart. She looked at the screen when the file finished loading. There was a video up top, and file documents below it, with a sinking feeling, she clicked onto the video.

Wu's face popped up, face neutral as he faced the camera. " _Maria, if you're watching this then that means one of two things. The first being you're on Isla Matanceros, you and Ripper are retired and I gave this to you after finishing your contract. The second, and most likely, is that Eli finally gave in for his need of money, and sold Ripper. I pray if that's the case, you got him back. It would make a lot of this, engineering the indoraptor and hiring your specifically, well, it'd make it a huge waste_."

He leaned back in his chair now, face a little grim. " _I made it no secret that I chose you for this project, I've told you such over the years. I even promised you that I would tell you about who, and what, Ripper was made of._ " Maria leaned forward now, _who_ Ripper was made of?

" _I've watched your videos, and I heard your concerns about human DNA in the Indoraptor. I won't lie to you, I never have in my opinion. While the Indominus Rex had human DNA, my DNA, I can assure you that the Indoraptor has primate DNA. Gorilla, to be exact. I wanted the Indoraptor to be a tad more intelligent than the velociraptor, a tad more critical thinking rather than tactical. You have no reason to fear about Ripper, and you can go over every inch on the papers I've attached to the file."_

" _As for the rest of him. I'm sure it's no surprise that Roberta is our tyrannosaur doner. I had several of her blood samples stored away when I left Jurassic World, and I wasn't about to go to Isla Sorna and risk getting killed for a new sample. But I'm sure you knew that already,_ " he sighed now, face downcast as he debated how to proceed. " _It's the velociraptor DNA that you need to know. I'm sure you don't remember, it had been so long ago. But when Charlie had gotten sick all those years ago, I extracted blood. I'd been taking samples from those girls for years, but that was the first time I did it with you. Do you remember what I had said to you?_ " Maria furrowed her brows as she tried to remember that conversation.

" _I had told you that I was taking blood for two reasons. To check the lysine in Charlie's blood, and as a fail safe. It's something I did with every dinosaur I've ever made, if they die it's less work to just reclone them than it is to remaster their genome._ " He paused and finally looked up at the screen as Maria felt her heart begin to stop. " _I'm sure you've figured it out. The velociraptor DNA is VM-16, from clutch four, egg one._ "

" _Charlie_ ," Maria breathed with Wu's reveal. She looked over to Owen, who was just as shocked. She looked back at the screen, vision going slightly blurry as she struggled to keep focus on Wu's words.

" _I should have told you sooner, I wanted to many times. I can assure you, none of this was done with malicious intent. I made the Indominus Rex, I brought you into that when I vented to you about her genome failing. And you, sweet Maria, you encouraged me to try again. The genome took, and three years later she took three of your girls away from you. If I had just given up, not have done it, they'd be alive. You'd still have Charlie with you, and you wouldn't had been as broken as you were when I took you in for this project."_

" _A year ago, you told me that you had called Ripper Charlie and Rexy during your bout of flu,"_ he chuckled a bit, " _almost scared me when you told me that to be honest. I had thought you knew the truth, but you hadn't. Just a simple mistake induced during your fever. But you were right, he was both Rexy and Charlie. And I'm sure before hand you had realized some similarities between him and Charlie_." She had, now that she really thought about it. Even back when he was an infant, she had noticed similar behaviors. The way he drank, shoving his head into the water and gasping for breath dramatically; the way he'd skip before taking off, a habit that's he's since grown out of but did in his youth. He'd chirp in greeting, he'd play a bit with his food. She had simply thought them to be peculiar, a projection of her old pack. But now… she looked up towards where Ripper's cage was. " _This doesn't change much, he is still Ripper. His bond with you is close, with or without Charlie's genome. I just believe that it's that added factor that caused him to be so protective of you, to care so much about you. No other trainer has ever gotten that much dedication from their charge._ "

" _I took your Charlie away from you, Echo, Delta, they're gone because I made the Indominus Rex. So, I tried to give you one of them back. It's not the same, and I know you're feelings for Ripper are different than Charlie's. But, it's her DNA all the same, it's her back. I just hope that you can forgive me, should we ever meet again._ " The video cut to black and the screen came back to the files page.

Maria leaned back, feeling numb. "He put Charlie in Ripper," she whispered.

"It doesn't change him," Owen told her gently. "He's still him, what he's made of doesn't affect how he is."

"No, I know that," Maria said as she looked at Owen. "I know it doesn't change him, and I still love him with all my heart. But, I spent the last three years finally moving past what happened on that island. I spent three years moving past the girls' deaths, mourning them and finding a peace in myself. And now, now Charlie is apart of Ripper. Now I have to look at him and think, _Charlie's in there too_."

Owen was quiet for a minute. "Did you know, that for a good year I couldn't stand the thought of looking at the training videos? To see them all, alive and healthy? Happy? It broke my heart, just thinking about it. Then, a year later I finally caved when Barry had told me how well you were doing. How you'd been moving past the trauma. So I watched the videos, and I cried. Oh, Maria, I was sobbing like a baby," he said as he looked at her. "I never thought I'd see Blue again, then after she got shot, I thought, _this is it. I'm going to have to tell Maria that I got her last baby killed_."

"Wait, Blue got _shot_?"

"Yeah, Mills men. She's fine now, but it was touch and go for a minute," he said. "The point is, if I could get any of those girls back, in any way, I'd take it. Ripper is still Ripper, the fact that Charlie is in there doesn't matter anymore. You love him because of him, don't let this change that."

Maria nodded. "It just means, I love him more," she said softly, she took a breath and stood up. "I'm going to go check on him, then find Mills."

Owen nodded. "I'll keep an eye on Maisie," he told her as she went to her door.

Maria nodded at him and left her home, standing outside for a minute as she took in the sounds of the other dinosaurs. It felt normal, to hear the bellows of the triceratops, the roars of the carnivores. She could even hear Stiggy's bleat. She looked over to Ripper's cage, heart cracking as he stood at the bars just listening to the sounds as well. "You doing okay, baby?" She asked as she drew near. Ripper looked at her and chuffed, red eyes looking back out at the corridor. He was curious, Blue being his first dinosaur that he'd ever seen. Maybe aside from Stiggy, if Owen was to be believed.

"I'll take you out to see them shortly," Maria told him with a smile. "Only if you behave," she warned lightly.

Ripper warbled, an eager look in his eyes. She smiled warmly at him. If he could behave himself, and observe how the other dinosaurs were, he could probably bloom into a functioning dinosaur. She was determined to see him excel, to be more than what he is now. He needed socialization, he needed a pack and he needed a new environment. "I'll be back soon," she told him. "Then we can work on walking around, okay?" Ripper nodded, and moved to lay against the bars, just listening to the new world around him.

As she walked away, calling the elevator, she thought about him. Nothing changed at all, she realized as she got into the elevator. Even with the knowledge that Charlie was in there somewhere, he was all Ripper to her. She smiled as she keyed in Mill's floor, arms crossed as she watched the numbers go up. Her smile disappeared, she had a debt to collect.

Mills looked up as she entered, a defeated look on his face. "I see you made it out," he said with a sigh. "You here to kill me?"

"I can't now," Maria said as she crossed her arms, entering the room and shutting the door behind her. "I got Ripper caged, it can't look like an accident."

He snorted and leaned back. "If it makes a difference-"

"It won't, so save it," Maria said simply. "You want to apologize? Get us all, me, Ripper and the dinosaurs, to Isla Matanceros. I want us off of the mainland as soon as possible. I want you to pay me that thirty million you sold us for, I'm owed that, Eli, don't you think?"

"You are," he admitted as he looked at his computer. "Fine, I'll wire it now. And I'll get in touch with the company I used. Any other demands?"

"Those dinosaurs you sold, get them back," Maria said as she tilted her head at him. "Give the money back to the people, and get them back. Threaten government involvement if you must, but get them back."

"I can't just-"

"You _can_ ," Maria said. "They shouldn't had been sold, and you know it Eli. You weren't always like this, a money hungry murderer. That wasn't you, and you know that." Eli sighed as she stared him down, when he looked up at her she saw his resolve waver. "Redeem yourself, Eli. Get them back, and get them to the island."

" _Fine_ ," Eli said after a long moment. "I will." He paused and looked almost hesitant to continue. "You got hurt."

"I got shot," Maria said. "I cleaned it out, it's fine," she shrugged and took a breath. "Maisie is also fine, by the way. Owen and Claire and adamant about taking care of her, so good luck getting her back."

"Mr. Grady will flatten me the second I show my face down there," Mills said. "Maisie will probably be safer with them anyway."

"Yep," Maria said. "I'll be going, call me when things get in motion." She paused at the door, and glanced back at him. "I'm trusting you with this, Eli. Don't let me down."

* * *

By the time she reached Ripper's cage, she had her thirty million and a confirmation that the shipping company would be on their way in the next few days, already paid for their discretion. Maria smiled as she placed her phone back into her back pocket, and looked up at Ripper as she drew near. She had already told Owen and Claire about her taking him for a walk, and the two of them had promptly taken Maisie upstairs to get her stuff packed. They seemed to be under the impression that they were coming with Maria to Isla Matanceros, not that she'd _mind_ but she'd like to be asked at the very least.

Maira unlocked the cage and stepped to the side as Ripper cautiously made his way to the door. She smiled encouragingly as he placed on hesitant foot outside on the concrete, a nervous trill escaping as he slowly emerged. She found it almost silly, just last night he went on a rampage and tore throughout the house like a bat out of hell. And yet here he was, a nervous dinosaur who didn't know how to do walk out of his cage. Which, she supposed was partly her fault. She didn't let him out much, only when he was younger and easier to control. As he grew, so did her fears that he'd snap and kill them all. But now she knew better, he listens to her.

"You can do it, bud," she said as she patted his shoulder. "Let's go, I got some girls for you to meet." She lead him down the first hallway, smiling as he paused every now and then to sniff the air experimentally. He really wanted to learn, to not be a killer like his predecessor was.

She stopped him at the first cage, grinning as Strawberry and Peaches turned to look at them, confusion written plainly on their faces as they took in the uncaged carnivore at her side. "These two are Strawberry and Peaches, ceratorsaurus' from the park," she told Ripper as the two came to the bars to sniff. Ripper shrank back with a small hiss, red eyes wide as the two giants hovered over him. She almost felt bad for when she'd take him to the next cage that housed Rexy.

She had barely came into view of Rexy's cage before the big boss herself came to greet them. Her large head leveled with the bars as she took Maria in, amber eyes recognizing her nearly instantly. The big rex reared her head up and let out a ferocious roar, one that sent Ripper hiding behind Maria, who laughed heartily at the rex. She looked back at Ripper, and grinned at him. He'd heard her roar before, but video just never captured the true power of Roberta's roars.

"You're okay, baby," Maria crooned as she stepped to the side, allowing Ripper to get closer to the cage, his stomach still low to the ground. It was cute, how timid he was around Rexy. Of course, Roberta just had that effect on everyone. She watched as Roberta lowered her head again, a low huff escaping as she inspected the jet black dinosaur in front of her. Ripper's tail dipped between his legs as he looked up, a nervous chirp escaping. Roberta snorted, choosing to chuff at Ripper now, almost as if she knew he was part rex too. Which, knowing the tyrannosaur, it was entirely possible. She was smarter than anyone gave her credit for.

Ripper glanced back at Maria before looking back up at Rexy, and chuffed back. The tyrannosaur let out a pleased groan and settled onto the ground, relaxed now that she was able to communicate with another being. Maria figured she missed having another tyrannosaur to talk with, after her previous cage mate years ago died, she'd been the only one on that island. Maria leaned against the wall and watched the two croon and chuff at each other, Ripper slowly becoming relaxed. She smiled softly as she watched him, he still had a long way to go, but this was surely a good start.

She heard Blue screech down the hall, and looked over in her direction. She glanced at Ripper, who was too engrossed in the conversation with the elder dinosaur, before walking off down the hallway. She was still in eyesight for him, Blue wasn't but four cages down. Maria stopped in front of the cage and smiled lovingly at Blue.

"Hey, girl," she greeted, chuckling softly when the raptor garbled in greetings. She crouched in front of the bars and looked up at Blue, taking note of the gunshot wound in her side. "That looked painful," she said with a low whistle. She glanced up at Blue, brown eyes meeting gold. "I missed you."

Blue let out a chirp and leaned over to sniff at Maria, a low whine escaping her as she pressed her snout against Maria's hair. Maria felt her heart crack all over again, Blue really went through it all the past three years. "I'm sorry I wasn't there," she finally said, voice heavy with emotion. "I should have been, I should have been there for it all." Blue merely looked at her with somber eyes, a small chirp escaping. "Charlie, Echo and Delta…" she bowed her head. "We left you _alone_."

Blue rasped softly as she leaned back forward and nipped at Maria's hair, pulling out a few strands. She crowed when Maria looked up at her in pain, one hand against her scalp. But the raptor didn't stop there, she nodded her head up and down, trilling as she did. Maria couldn't help but laugh, seeing the behavior that Blue often exhibited as a hatchling. She stared warmly up at her last raptor baby, and smiled.

Everything would be okay.

 **Hope the build up was worth it, lol. I was low key planning this since, like, chapter four. Now, I know I did also hint at there being human DNA within Ripper, but when I sat down to write this chapter I kind of stopped. While I do like the idea of there being human experimentation within the Indominus and Indoraptor, I chose to exclude Ripper from that headcanon in this story. I just felt like the Charlie reveal would have been over shadowed if there was a human element in Ripper's DNA. Of course, I do have plans for human experimentation in the upcoming story arch, so hopefully that'll appease y'all.**

 **We have also officially left the movie portion of the arch, and we'll soon be phasing into Arch 3, which I have some nice plots lined up for. I have no idea what the third movie in Jurassic World will be, but I doubt when it comes out I'll** **incorporate** **any of the plot lines used in it. Mostly because I'm afraid that Rexy is going to die and that dinosaur will** ** _not be dying in any of my fics_** **.**

 **so, yah. I am really stoked that y'all are enjoying this story! For something that was made up on a whim, this story really has become one of the best stories that I've ever written. I really enjoy writing it, and now that I'm free writing it again I can hopefully get a consistent writing schedule up.**


	17. Wu's Plan

_**"I'll probably be able to update regularly now that I'm free writing again" and then I didn't lol. Sincerely sorry about the large gap of time, school, work, family all got in the way. and before anyone says anything, I've stopped caring if this would happen in real life? It's a fanfic based off of dinosaurs, nothing is going to be entirely accurate. Had to totally rewrite this chapter two because I wanted a large time skip and zero reunions like I had originally. BUT, please do enjoy and let me know what you think!**_

 _Two years later_

Everything, it turned out, was not okay.

Yeah, sure, she had the island and the dinosaurs safe and sound. Yeah, her family and friends knew about Ripper, they weren't happy about it, but they knew about it. Sure, the dinosaurs were safe and happy on Isla Matanceros, grazing the grass and hunting the wildlife. Owen, Claire and Maisie even joined her out on the island, so it was far less lonely than what she had originally feared it would be.

Things had looked up for a little while there, so much so that Maria had finally allowed herself to relax and try to enjoy life.

That was a big ass mistake.

* * *

"Do you know why you're here, Ms. Brennan?" The FBI agent asked as he entered the room she was held in. Agent Bower, if her memory served her correctly.

"You heard about my birthday," she deadpanned. In reality, she had a vague idea. Dinosaurs, because what else would the FBI want from her? But that had made almost zero sense, she had already given her statements to them a year ago when Mills was arrested.

"No, but happy birthday," he said as he sat down, his partner, Agent Wilson, coming in shortly after. "I'd like to thank you, before we get started, for your cooperation with the dinosaurs sold at the auction last year. We've recovered half of them, and are in the process of finding the remaining few."

"I know, I heard from Owen that they're being shipped out," Maria said with an easy smile. The smile dropped as she leaned back. "But that's not why I'm here."

"No," Agent Bower agreed. "How much do you know about Dr. Henry Wu?"

"Not much," she said after a moment of thought. "We were friendly, but he was always secretive."

"I see," the agent leaned back and exchanged a look with his partner.

"Just spit it out, please," Maria said as she leaned forward. "I have a dinosaur going through puberty back on the island, and the only other trainers there have absolutely no idea on how to deal with it. So, what is the real reason why I'm here?"

Agent Wilson leaned forward, he was younger, more handsome than his partner. "We have Dr. Wu's journal," he said. "And it's contents are highly concerning. We can't discern anything useful, and the only thing really legible is his message saying this," he slid a photo towards her.

Skeptically, she picked it up and read the message scrawled onto a notebook paper was Henry's messy scrawl. "Maria will know," she read aloud. "Know what?"

"That's what we were hoping you'd tell us," the agent said. "We know you worked with him in the past, with the indominus and the indoraptor. We were hoping that you knew of any other projects he was attempting."

"Other than Ripper, he didn't mention anything," Maria said, brows furrowed. "Unless…"

"Unless, what, Maria?" Agent Bower asked. "If you know anything, tell us."

Maira was silent a moment as she gathered her thoughts, she finally looked up at the two agents. "Henry always made two of every experiment. Just in case one failed, he had the other as a backup. Two clutches, two different genomes. When he made the Indominus, he made two of them. The other, of course, was eaten before she reached maturity." She looked back to the journal picture. "He only made one Indorapter," she said.

"Unless he made two, and had the other somewhere else," Agent Wilson seemed to have caught on. "It would make sense, with him being off the grid that he had another dinosaur hidden away somewhere."

"And he mentioned none of this to you?" Bower asked for clarification.

"No, not at all," Maria said. "Anytime we spoke, it was about my indorapter and him alone. Any talks about another was in conjunction with the fact that Ripper was a prototype. He was never the end product, so we knew that when the kinks were found, there'd be more produced."

"Do you think it's possible that he is creating more indoraptors?"

Maria bit her lip as she thought it over, before shaking her head. "He'd have to have backing before he'd attempt it," she said after a moment. "It's why he went to Mills in the first place, why he worked for Hammond and then Masrani. They'd back his experiments. No, if he has no one backing him, then he won't be attempting any hybrids. I'd be more concerned with him creating normal dinosaurs than anything else. And really, I doubt he'd even do that without a proper lab."

"Is it possible that he has access to illegal dinosaurs," the question didn't really sound like a question. In fact, it was almost like they knew something that they weren't telling. Were they trying to see if she knew more than she let on?

"I suppose? He would leave every other weekend," Maria allowed. "I didn't know where he'd go, though. And I never thought to ask. They let me have my privacy, so I didn't pry into theirs."

The two nodded and exchanged looks before they withdrew another item. This time, it was several photos, each containing an alarming image. One of Wu, more hazard than when she last saw him, sporting a scar on the side of his face. Another was of infrared scanning of a cargo hold, multiple shapes unmistakably dinosaur in origin. There were some photos, taken from inside the hold, that revealed dinosaurs that she had no idea existed. She couldn't name them, not really as the pictures were a tad blurry to really make a positive identification. But the show stopper was the last picture.

Even with the vast differences, she knew what she was looking at. Pure white, standing tall at nine feet, a pale yellow stripe that spanned from the eyes all the way to the tail. Large sickle claws that appeared cracked and damaged, sickly red eyes that seemed to burn into her even through paper. Thin feathers that poked out in various ways, some broken and damaged. And cracked teeth that could still tear a man's arm clean off.

"An indorapter," she breathed in horror as she picked up the photo. "He actually had another one?" She looked up at the two agents.

"Yes," Wilson confirmed. "These were taken two weeks ago via an undercover agent. Wu caught on to what was going on, and promptly got rid of the agent before moving bases. We have no idea how, but he managed to disappear completely again."

"I have no idea where he could have gone," Maria said. "I haven't had contact with him since the auction."

"Yes, but he seemed to have alluded to you knowing _something_ ," Bower said. "There are multiple references to you in his journals. Even if you know nothing, you are apart of this now. We can't ignore this and call it a coincidence. He either wants to be found, and by you alone, or he wants to take you out as the only person who could stop him."

"You think I'd _want_ more dinosaurs in the human world?" Maria asked incredulously. "I did everything I could to stop the dinosaurs from getting out in the first place!"

"Yes, and we know you cooperated in the past," Wilson said gently. "And we know you have kept your word about keeping the dinosaurs on Isla Matanceros. However, we have to ask for your help once again. These dinosaurs cannot stay here, they pose a danger to everyone. And Wu has proven to be dangerous if left to his own devices. You know him better than everyone else we've interviewed. He's shown that he trusted you more than his own employers. We need to take him down, and you're the only one with evidence pointing that it can happen."

Maria was quiet before letting out a sigh and nodding. "Yes, of course I'll help," she said. "But," she toyed with the edges of the indorapter photo. "I don't think we'll be able to save all the dinosaurs. Maybe some could be integrated into the island, but the indorapter…"

"We've already concluded that it'll have to be put down," Bower confirmed. "We have no evidence of a trainer for it. And our agent confirmed that it was too dangerous to go near. According to our undercover agent, the hybrid would leap at anyone who'd come near. A couple workers lost limbs, some lost their lives before a stricter perimeter was set in place."

Maria nodded, trying to ignore the pit forming in her stomach. Two different variables, that was Wu's experiment. An indorapter with a trainer, and one without. Which one prospered, and which one failed. It almost pained her to think that Ripper could have easily be in that cage instead, and it pained her to know that this indorapter had no one to look after him. No one to teach him, to protect him like Ripper did.

"When do we start?" She asked.

"We'll give you all the notes we have," Bower said as he stood. "All the evidence we've collected. Your task is to make sense of it all." When Maria stood, ready to be taken back out, he paused. "I want you to know, we're putting a lot of faith that this will go according to plan. If we find anything that could link to you what's going on in Wu's lab, you'll be going down with him."

Maria looked at him alarmed. He didn't really think she would be on board with all of this, surely. But then, all of her credibility was non-existent considering her involvement with Mills. Of course they'd think she had some involvement in this, even if it was minor. "I understand," she said finally.

He nodded. "Thank you for your cooperation," he said before leaving out the room.

Agent Wilson gave her an apologetic smile. "We do appreciate your willingness to help," he said as he lead her out. "It's just with what happened at the Lockwood Manor…"

"No, I do understand," Maria said as she was taken to an office this time. She stood as Wilson went behind a desk to pull out some document copies. "I know how dangerous this all is, and I especially know Wu's track record. I'll do everything I can to help stop him."

"And we appreciate that," Wilson said. He handed her a box full of the copies and studied her for a moment. "How is your indorapter, by the way?"

"I, he's good. Maturing, though I haven't been able to figure out how mature he's gotten," Maria said. "Given the two different species, I can't determine if he's grown by velociraptor standards or tyrannosaurus."

"Has he been trying to mate at all?"

"Oh no!" Maria looked horrified by the mere thought. "No, he's closed off from the other dinosaurs, and there's an electric fence blocking them all from interacting like that. I don't think it would be wise for him to reproduce, if it was even possible," she added. "Two different genomes, I'd be surprised if Wu made him fertile. Especially given his original purpose, to be military based."

Wilson nodded, pleased at the answer. "I'll admit, that was one of our main concerns when we allowed you to keep him, that you'd be breeding. I'm glad you're being cautious about it."

Maria nodded as she glanced into the box. "Will I be allowed to go back home?"

"Of course, you have our numbers, and we'll be checking in every few days to check on your progress. With Wu being off the grid, we don't have a real time limit. It's best we find him quickly, and that will be what we'll focus on. Your task is to find out if he has anything else we need to know about. Any clues about employers, or dinosaurs he plans to make."

Maria nodded. "I'll do my best," she promised as she was lead back out.

Wilson gave her a sincere smile. "I know you will," he said as he showed her out the door. "We'll be in touch."

As she was left alone, walking to the car she had rented to even get here, she was struck with the realization that once again, she had been dragged into Wu's plans without realizing it. She shook her head in frustration as she climbed into the car and started it, first the indominus, then Ripper and now this? When will enough be enough for him?

What was he even planning this time?

 **Did you know that they originally were going to have a white indoratpor that Ripper would murder in the movie? There's even concept art for it and everything. I'm kinda glad they did away with it for the movie, but I refuse to let a good idea go to waste, you feel?**


End file.
